Time's Razor
by Themightytom
Summary: The Defiant is leaving a time loop that created a colony of it's own descendants, when suddenly it is transported to another universe during the Cylon destruction of the 12 colonies. note: This is being written live, I'll fix any major gramamtical errors before it's complete. If you don't like the style, nobody's forcing you to read this. Thank you for encouraging comments.
1. Time's Razor

"Launch the probe Chief." Captain Benjamin Sisko ordered. Major Kira heard and grasped Dax's hands firmly.

"It's time." She declared, she moved to her station as Sisko ordered,

"Transfer helm control to the computer." Dax passed him and sat down.

"Autopilot engaged." she announced

"Raise shields," Sisko ordered. She acknowledged as Sisko shared a look with Kira. Bravely she returned his gaze as Worf announced they were breaking orbit.

"I'm picking up an unusual temporal signature. " O'brien announced.

Kira confirmed it for all of them. "It's the anomaly." she confirmed, "We're headed straight for it."

Dax's instruments' beeped a warning.

"Benjamin, the anomaly is unstable " she announced with concern, "I'm seeing variations in size, energy output-"

"The anomaly does not match our records." Worf said with some alarm.

"Captain, our course is changing." Dax announced, even as she was attempting to analyze the changes.

"Exotic particles are interacting with our shield grid, our warp drive is fluctuating? O'Brien shouted.

"Break off, abort!" Sisko shouted!"

"It's too la-" Dax began, and then time stopped. Sisko was reminded of his time with the prophets, as suddenly objects and relationships began to distort, and then endless moment was over. The ship lurched mightily.

"Shields fluctuating at 20 % shouted Worf, "Captain we have been fired upon!"

"What the hell??" Sisko surged from his seat despite the rocking. On the viewscreen debris was clearing and he could see utter chaos beyond.

"I'm readinf hundreds of ships, nuclear detonations..." Kira tried to keep up with what was appearing on her scanners.

"Evasive maneuvers," Sisko snapped, "Identift those ships!"

"They do not match any known configuration, but they are hostile " Worf informed him, "Phasers are offline but we have torpedoes"

"My God... " Kira breathed, and there was no need to explain why, as Dax naneuvered the ship, the planet below had become visible, and it was not the one they had left. This one, was burning.


	2. Children of Humanity

The Defiant hurdled through space around flaming debris and wreckage. The planet below was on fire, with nuclear detonations blooming from dozens of points on the surface.

"Engage the cloak!" Sisko ordered.

"Cloaking device is offline, however I have configured our deflectors to mask our energy signature." O'Brien replied.

"The cloaking device would be of minimal help Captain. Worf stated. "there are thousands of missiles being fired at over a dozen ships in our immediate vicinity, even cloaked we would likely to be hit."

"Keep flying old man." Sisko said as her hands flew over the controls, "get us clear of this"

"Captain, I am unable to get a fix on our position, I'm not sure what quadrant we are in." Kira reported. "The anomaly did a lot more then send us through time, it threw us in the middle of someone else's fight."

"This is a one sided fight." Sisko said. A colossal ship sporting two massive nacelles was being pummelled sideways into the upper atmosphere, its engines flickering, while a line of star shaped craft fired missiles in the distance, and if the mass of twisted wreckage were any indication, it had lost a great many siblings in this battle before they had arrived.

"Confirmed Captain, " Worf announced, "Logging two distinct fleet classes. Carriers, scouts and attack craft closer to the planet match readings from orbital and ground installations, with a second attacking force, light carrier, missile platforn- Sir, tracking faster than light capability!"

"Confirm that?" Sisko commanded. Worf fed an image to the main screen. a squadron of winged craft appeared with a burst of light.

"We were picking these craft up on short range sensors near a neighboring moon, they dissappeared suddenly, and reappeared here." his voice soured, "They destroyed a number of eebeny sigbals before doing so."

"Can we confirm that the ships being attacked gave interstellar capability?" Sisko asked.

"I believe so." Now that they had cleared the immediate vicinity of the battle, Dax spared a moment, "I saw sone civillians ships dissapear and- there they are, three quarters of an AU, moving towards a group of others."

"So the prime directive may not apply." Kira commented. Sisko appreciated the insight because the decision he was about to make was unthinkable, yet necessary.

"Chief, what's our status." he asked.

"Shields regenerating at eighty percent. Impulse and warp online, but something is wrong with the phaser emitters, possibly hull damage." O'Brien replied.

"Worf, tactical assessment"

"Our weapons are superior." Worf assured him, "both in range and yield, even at reduced capacity, our sheilds were drained more by our arrival than their weapons."

"We are much faster on impulse." Dax informed him, I wouldn't risk warp without some serious mapping, considering we don't know where we are, and this is an extensive battlefield."

"It's a killing field." Sisko growled." He was looking at the smoldering world below. "Are we detecting any communications?"

"I've been tracking what seems to be comm traffic, visual and audio as well as some unusual data transmissions." Said Kira.

"Very well, can the translator interpret?" Kira nodded. Sisko made his decision.

"Major, open a channel to the attacking fleet." Sisko rose.

"Channel open sir, audio only ."

"To the attacking fleet. This is Captain Benjamin Sisko, of the Federation Starship Defiant. We have arrived in this combat zone by accident and wish no hostilities. we ask you to break off your attack, to allow for an opportunity to discuss your grievances with your, clearly defeated enemy. We would be happy to act as a neutral party in these negotiations."

There was a pause, and then an irate voice answered.

"Nice try meatbags, creative but desperate. Your President tried to surrender, we nuked his ass to Hades."

"I beg your pardon?" Sisko blinked, "Sir, we are representatives of an interstellar federation, we are not part of this conflict, we simply wish to help end this senseless killing."

"Oh don't worry, it'll end." the voice replied, "As soon as we run out of targets to exterminate."

"Captain we detected a data stream accompanying that." Kira announced, "attempted viral intrusion, the ship's computer has neutralized it."

"You have attempted to breach our security, you have admitted to perpetuating a slaughter after your enemy's surrender, by the authority of the United Federation of Planets, I order you to cease hostilities!" Sisko thundered.

"Yeah you and what army pal." the voice snarked back at him.

"Benjamin we are reading dozens of carriers in this system, thousands of fighters." Dax observed. "most of the carriers read as automated, with maybe a dozen lifesigns on each."

"The ships they are destroying are crewed by thousands, to say nothing of the cities below." said Kira " I'm reading very heavy casualties and fatal levels of radiation."

Suddebly there was a growl and a crack and Worf smashed his console.

"We must strike hard." Worf announced. everyone look at at him. "We have tactical superiority within our range, but we cannot defend an entire system. we must shock them, and allow their opponents to tend their wounded." He was uncharacteristically furious

"This is like Khitomer." Dax realized.

"I will not preside over a massacre." Sisko growled. He turned back to the screen. "Very well, we have given you your warning. You are ordered to withdraw. Mr Worf, target the nearest formation of enemy carriers, with a full spread of torpedoes."

"Aye sir." Worf growled.

"Captain I think I have someone from the other side, " Kira stated, "A womab identifying herself as Laura Roslin, Secretary of education? She is calling for all civillian ships nearby to form a convoy and proceed out of the battle zone."

"Torpedoes ready." Worf announced.

"Lieutenant Dax, set course for the enemy formation, and accelerate to attack speed, Mr. Worf, fire." Sisko announced.

The Defiant turned from its orbit of the stricken planet, banked around the remains of its defensing fleet, and unleashed half a dozen torpedoes on a trio of enemy carriers. travelling at a high percentage of light speed, the enemy ships accepted the volley with no time to react. a pair of torpedoes each annihalated the whole group.

"THAT got their attention!" Dax reported, and indeed several more ships blinked into space around them, "They don't seem to be able to get a lock on us-" explosions erupted around the ship"

They're making up for it, with enthusiasm." O'Brien said grimly.

"Mr. Worf, fire at will." Sisko ordered, "try to use the phasers to intercept those missiles. Major Kira, put ne on with the secretary"

"Hello? This is Laura Roslin, to whom am I speaking."

"This is Benjamin Sisko, Captain of the Federation Starship Defiant. we have engaged hostile forces in defense of civillians, but we arrived here by accident ans we don't know what is goinc on. Are you authorized to speak for your government?"

"Where are you?" Roslin asked bluntly. Sisko sighed.

"We are engaged in battle with hostile forces, above a planet .3 AU from your location." Sisko said patiently, "We are trying to help."

"You're attacking the Cylons?" Laura asked confused.

"The Cylons are the attacking force in this region?" Sisko asked.

"Yes, these systems are the territory of the 12 colonies of Kobol, the Cylons staged a sneak attack this morning, we havent heard from them in 40 years." Roslin answered.

"Captain, we are communicating through in system relays, but I think they are trianglulating her location." Kira warned.

"Mr. Worf?" Sisko asked

"We have destroyed or neutralized ten enemy carriers, our shields are holding at sixty percent. an additional eight ships have arrived, but are maintaining distance." On the screen, clouds of fighters were winking in and out.

"They can't match our speed but those fighters are making micro ftl jumps to keep pace." Dax announced. "They are trying to screen the larger ships. phasers are ineffective against this many."

"Mr. Worf target the base ships with pulse phasers, thry'll have to interpose with their fighters." Sisko ordered, he turned to O'Brien "Chief can you modify the phaser beam weapons to sweep on a general arc?"

"We could but will reduce phaser output."

"We do NOT need full power." Worf said with some disdain.

"Do it." Sisko ordered, "Madam Secretary are you monitoring?"

"I'm trying- did you say you destroyed ten ships?" Roslin asked.

"Fourteen" Worf clarified. Sisko shot him a look. "They are without honor." he clariified to Sisko. Sisko shared a look with Kira. she shrugged.

"We have their attention." She announced, "I'm reading ships within range converging on our location."

"Captain, my people have been slaughtered, our worlds shattered, and we have no idea how many ships the Cylons can throw at us. They are robots that rebelled against us sixty years ago, they tried to wioe us out. it took the scrafice of an entire generation and all our worlds united, to drive them away.You are our only hope." Roslin informed him.

"We are positioned away from the planet." Sisko assured her, "every missile they fire is one not hitting you, every ship they send is one less attacking civillians."

"We should destroy as many as we can." Worf announced, "They are machines."

"How many Torpedoes do we have left Mr. Worf." Sisko asked, "And what is our present location?"

"We are not in our galaxy." Dax commented, "Most likely not even our quantum subset of universes if my theory is correct, we are a long way from home"

"We have not used any of our Quantum torpedoes, we have used 26 of our compliment of sixty." Worf acknowledged.

"Between us, we could probably manufacture more." Said Chief O'Brien.

"Not quite the point chief." Sisko replied.

"It may not need to be." said Kira, "I think the Cylons are hailing us."

"Put them on." Sisko ordered.

"I see your switching to your fancy ray guns, are you running of missiles?" asked the same voice as before.

"Yiu've switched to sending fighters, are you running out of carriers?" Sisko asked in return, "We can end this now, or keep right on shooting."

"Who are you people?" the voice demanded.

"I am Captain Benjamin Sisko, of the federation starship, Defiant." Sisko replied evenly, "and who are you."

"We are the sword of God." a female voice answered, avenging the injustice that hunanity visited upon us."

"as I understand it, humanity created you." Sisko answered, "and no justice excuses the slaughter of the innocent. Stand down, and we will offer an opportunity to discuss your grievances, with the survivors of this atrocity, once they are abel to count the bodies."

"We will not cede control of this system, it is ours now, but you can have the civillians." the first man answered "however many you can get onto that tiny ship."

"Mr Worf, continue firing." Sisko ordered. He spotted a message from Kira on his console, "But target that ship hanging back on the fringes, the one with all the life signs."

"Thats on the far side of the planet" snorted the man.

"Dax, full impulse, and prepare for warp speed, estimate time for arrival."

Dax raises an eyebrow, "we could make a low warp jump in there three seconds."

"Sir the vessel just jumped to orbit around the fourth planet." Kira announced

"You can see that??" the male said.

"Alter course, prepare for warp." Sisko declared.

"Wait!" said the female. "we will agree to a ceasefire."

"Your ground forces as well." Sisko replied, "pull back from this system until we can assemble representatives of its former government."

"We will need some time to recharge our jump engines and recall our troops. " the woman said. "And the colonials will probably keep attacking."

"Your ceasefire is with us." Sisko replied, "best get a move on, before they regroup.


	3. Flesh and Bone

"That won't hold them for long." Sisko stated, "I need options people. Dr. Bashir to the bridge."

"I recommend we launch class four probes to the nearby inhabited worlds." Dax stated, "There's a navigational relay system in place but I don't think we can trust it."

"Not only is it infested with some kind of virus, but it's primitive." Kira commented, "their technology is very different. Their FTL is point to point instead of on a course heading."

"And we'll need warp speed if they decide to break their word." Sisko agreed, "Mr O'Brien, see to it. "

"Perhaps we should do battle on a field of our choosing." Worf observed. Sisko turned his chair, "They are machines, and they have attempted to access our computers before " he straightened, "but our technology was superior."

"He's right." Dax said, "and it was a fairly rudimentary attack, designed more to explore an embedded backdoor that we simply don't have."

"What about using this navigational system against them?" Sisko asked, "Use it to attack their systems?"

Bashir arrived on the bridge, joined by Odo.

"Or patch systems that are infected " O'Brien interjected as he worked at his console, "It seems like these robots caught these people off guard."

"Get to it Old Man." Sisko ordered Jadzi, "Dr. Bashir we have found ourselves in a warzone, The planet below us has been bombed with nuclear weapons, the fleet around us has been decimated by a hostile force."

Bashir nodded. "I have been monitoring, Captain, I reccommend we use the transporter to locate survivors in space around us, identify if any of these ships are still operational as well. we can use the transporters on the defiant and both shuttles to transfer wounded, but we will need a treatment area."

"Start with what we have for space on the defiant, and take any crew with medical training to assist you, Mr. Worf, Constable, I'll want security on hand when we start treating people." Both men nodded.

"Major Kira, is our friend still on the line?"

"Standing by Captain. " Roslin answered, I have been joined by a member of our military, Captain Lee Adama."

"Captain Adama, are you receiving?" Sisko asked, there was a muffled sound and a young voice answered,

"Ah, yes, yes I am here, listen, I need some way to verify all this "

Sisko blinked.

"We really don't have time for this," he said, "if your ship has ftl, you could join us, and see for yourselves, but we really should begin rescue operations. That wiuld be much easier if we could coordinate with your people."

"Well, Secretary Roslin said you could do something about the computer virus?" Adama said. Sisko looked up at Dax. She nodded.

"We should have somethinf shortly."

"I don't know what I can promise Benjamin, I can upload a self correcting patch, but for it to work ships will have to access it, and I'm sure anyone who is still alive has been ripping out their computer connections."

"But many may be on disabled ships." O'Brien stated, I am detecting several of those big battlewagons that still have residual life support but their systems are down."

"They are called battlestars," Adama clarified, "please, anything you can do, to get them back in the fight."

"This isnt a fight any more Captain. Now it's simply a matter of survival. Major Kira, coordinate with Ms. Roslin and Mr. Adama, Dax, transmit the patch, Mr O'Brien, are the probes ready?"

"Yes sir I have launched an initial six and we will have four more ready in a moment, that's all we have on board until we can fabricate more."

"Very good. Coordinate the search and rescue efforts and try to get a good look at their technology, if we can aid in any repairs, and Dax? Sisko asked, she turned, "Try to access any public databases that might still be operational, when these 'Cylons' return, I'd like a better idea of whats going on. In the meantime, I'll check in on Doctor Bashir."

. *. *.

Sisko could tell well before arriving in the medbay how Bashir was doing. the mess hall and shuttle bay were already full of wounded.

"Captain," Odo was leading half a dozen men, "WeWe've treated burns and broken bones in fairly short order, the Doctor is concentrating on those with more severe injuries. We have found at least three doctors, who are recieving instruction on use of our field medical equipment." Sisko raised an eyebrow. "Yes I am, quite aware of the federations policy on sharing even medical technology, we have a full inventory of what is being loaned out, and nothing has yet left the ship."

"Yet" Sisko noted.

"Captain, the Defiant can accommodate at most a hundred people, for only a very short time, and we are talking about casulties in the millions."

"Dax has uploaded a patch to that will propogate the same way the virus spread and the chief is looking at other ways to help with repairs." Sisko tapped his badge, "Sisko to bridge, any luck finding operational battlestars?"

"Captain Adama has been in touch with one that was clear of the fighting and is currently re-arming, they should be here in two hours. "

"I think we will need something a little sooner Chief." Sisko said gkancing at the men with Odo.

"Captain, we've barely begun. some of these ships are showing signs of life but it's going to take time to get them sorted out even one of the two of them. " Dax interjected.

"Captain, President Roslin says some of the civillian ships with her have significant capacity for the short term." Kira said, "they can make an FTL jumo here but would have to leave some ships behind."

"Have Adam direct his ship to their location." Sisko said, "So that we can improve our efforts here, then we can see about getting other efforts underway." He turned to Odo snd still longer line behind him, Constable, take these men to the transporter room and scan the planet below for and intact military installation or public building we can create a ground-based recieving center. You men are officers?" Sisko noted differences in unniform type and rank. He recieved nods, "You men are.. Marines?" He hazarded a guess that the translator would figure iut his intention, and tge sudden bloom of confident assertion proved him right. He smiled, "we're going to have a lot of frightened people coming through very quickly now who don't understand who we are or where we came from there will be time for that later all I need to know is that we are here to help and that we have technology far beyond theirs."

"You kicked the cylons ass sir." one of the marines told him, that's all we need to know."

"Yes we did." Sisko said, "and we are not done yet soldier, but people are dying, and we need to regroup." he turned to the officers, "you'll need to self organize by assignment, qualification and rank. I'll send a shuttle down to act as a transoorter relay. Defiant picks people up, treats them, forwards them to you," He made a gesture of scooping something up, and giving it. The men were disciplined but shell shocked, "anyone who can get to a ship, we'll send back up, anyone who can help with the wounded will do so, anyone injured, we'll do what we can. "

He clapped one on the shoulder and they followed Odo. Odo waved them down the hall but turned to Sisko.

"Captain, there is anofher wrinkle. These people have never seen nonhumans before." at Sisko's sigh, he continued, "I'm seen them casting looks at nyself and worf, they just haven't been here long enough to say anything."

"Well I hate to lose Dax on the bridge, but she's versatile and can pass for human, and Ensign Tannenbaum can handle the transporter."

Sisko arrived in the messhall at last, where Bashir was busy.

"Doctor, we are setting up an aftercare site on the planet below, and civillian ships are arriving as we-"

"Captain," Worf interrupted, I must speak to you." Sisko heard the urgency ans followed Worf to a corner od the room, Worf showed him a tricorder, "Though these people seem to have never encountered aliens, ww have found one among them who is not human."

Sisko raised his eyebrows. Worf nodded towards a man in a violet jacket. He had been poking at a replicator panel, but when he noticed Sisko and Worf looking, he turned away and acted nonchalant.

"Everyone else is wearinf a uniform, what was he doing on a military ship?" Sisko asked. Worf growled.

"Public relations " he answered.

"Now that IS suspicious." Sisko said, "The doctor has confirmed this?"

"The doctor alerted me." Worf replied, "that man has clear signs of genetic augmentation, and is tranamitting a low level EM signal."

"Have O'Brien jam the signal and follow me." Sisko ordered, "Sir!, Excuse ne sir." the man turned, "My officer says you are in public relations?"

The nervous looking man smiled. Sisko put a hand on his shoulder and began steering him down the hall.

"Why yes... Francis Dorall, at your service...?"

"Sisko, Captain Ben Sisko. Mr Dorall, we are from another universe." Sisko stated, Dorall glanced at him shocked as they walked. "Oh yes, its true, you see our techonology, its like nothing you're people have seen."

"My people? Dorall asked suspiciously. Sisko inwardly rolled his eyes.

"Yes the Colonies, of course!" He clapped Dorall again enthusiastically, continuing to move him down the hall, "and aliens, you've seen Mr Worf?" Dorall turned suddenly and Worf was beside him as well. He found himself being moved further from the mess hall.

"Where are we... going?" He asked confused.

"Well to your new office!" Sisko expkained, " an actual, trained, public relations expert is just what we need." Doors hissed open and Dorall stumbled backwards, but caught a bench and sat down. "We just appeared in the middle of a war, and every war has two sides, if we are going to have peace we will need to be represented!"

"To the colonists of course." Said Dorall rising. Sisko tapped a panel on the wall and suddenly there was a flicker of light between him and Dorall."

"As a matter of fact no, I was thinking you could tell our side, to the Cylons."

. *. *.

"I am here to take over." Worf declared.

"Relax Worf, you sound like you are ammexing the helm." Dax snarked as they exchanged seats, "Other than Kira, you're our best pilot, and she's busy herding cats."

"Hey I've manned a bridge station or two in my day." O'Brien pointed out."

"You're overseeing the salvage operation " Dax shushed him, Worf I transferred the shield and weapons controls to here, and this program is overseeing astrometrics compiling the probe telemetry."

"Jadzia you do not need to mother hen me, I can operate a console jusr fi-" Worf blinked, "You named your program 'Scanny O'Pathfinder?'"

"I think I'm offended." O'Brien noted, Ensign Tannenbaum chose that moment to appear."

"Ensign Christine Tannenbaum reporting for-" She spotted Miles and blushed "...Duty." Miles focused on his work."

"Alright grumpy, I'll get going. Keep an eye on Gul Libel-Not. Its an autoscript to reroute transporter activity and raise shields if an FTL event occurs within enemy weapons range, or radiological activity is detected in addition to the standard threat detection."

"Good." Worf said approvingly, "I do not trust these Cylons, they have no honor." He began tapping his controls, "But I am changing the name."

"A Warriori Armor?" Dax frowned. "Whatever you need, its your console." She started to go but Worf grabbed her arm.

"Be cautious." He said in a low voice, concious of others sharing the small bridge, "You will be in an unshielded shuttle on the surface, and you must be far enough away to refract our transporter signal, which means we cannot help you, if we are attacked."

"Relax Worf, the Cylons will never find a single shuttle in all this mess." Dax told him, "I'm probably safer than you are, the defiant likely has every telescope in the system pointed at it."

"These Cylons... some of them likely appear human." he informed her. Dax nodded.

"I suspected that when I went over the life sign readings from those ships we destroyed, human baseline, but more like augments. I sent a message to Julian."

"We believe we found one." Worf told her, "The Captain is with it in the brig."

"I'll download Julians bio scans of it and write a transporter screening protocol." Jadzia assured him.

"Even so, these creatures seem able to communicate with eachother."

"We noticed that, Worf." Jadzia told him, "Miles and I added a jamming protocol to the program we updated to the navigational array. they are probably completely out of sorts."

"We timed it to follow the extraction orders" O'Brien added, "The last clear message they had was to fall back."

"That's brilliant sir." Said Tannenbaum.

"Uh, yes, well, I mean... It was Dax's idea..." Obrien stutteree, "Thank you ensign." he finished lamely

"Alright, well I'll be going." Dax sauntered between the two, the. cut back accross the captain's station. "You'll be alright?" she asked Kira.

"It's just a headache." Nerys answered, "Focus on the crisis before us, people are dying, we'll deal with the rest later."

"We WILL return home, for you to receive the proper care." Worf stated, 'You must take heart."

"I can't say that I loved the idea of finishing my life on some colony world with a neurological condition." Kira told them, "But if my life can make a difference in a holocaust like this, then I consider it a bargain."

"Well we aren't done negotiating." Dax told her as she left with the ensign.

. *. *.

"Here's what we have." Three told Six, "The Battlestar Agrippa, in orbit over Caprica, partial shut down of weapons and navigation, taking heavy fire, she was nearly into the upper atmosphere." gun canera footage from a raider projected into their minds as they spoke, "Their engineer must have attempted to instigate a jump manually."

"Without regulating power input or oscilation frequency, the results are haphazard at best, but they were desperate." Sais Six, Three nodded.

"The eights believe the uncalibrated jump event was interacting withthe planets gravitational sheild when rhe first volley of nuclear ordinance hit."

Instead of the tidy flash of an instant FTL jump, a distortion skewed the battle star, compressed it, with the epicenter near the stern where the jump engines would have been, even the fire from the nuclear explosion seemed to implode in. From the center of the maelstrom a conparatively tiny ship streaked out, and plowed through the second wave od nuclear ordinance. It emerged seemingly unscathed, surrounded by a halo of energy.

"The forward two third of the Agrippa vanished into the event, theres not telling where it ended up, but its doubtful the crew survived, in its place, we have this." Three showed the Defiant dodging nimbly through wreckage, still outpacing missiles and raiders alike.'

She skipped ahead, "This is after they spoke to John."

The tiny ship erupted with streaking spheres of light and pulses of energy, a strobing beam of light stsrted stabbing missiles as Base Stars began to explode.

"John does have that effect." Six agreed, "Have we confirmed what they are? Sisko sounded human."

"We have little more than what they claim." Three focused on a close up of the Defiant. "There is some kind of lettering on the hull, but in no language I have seen, and the evidence seems to supoort that they may be as they claim, from another universe. As impossible as it seems, the eights, fours and twos say the math checks out."

"The hybrid calls them the children of the prophets." Six informed her, "She claims 'The emmissary' has come. That sounds ominous."

"They are flesh and bone." Three replied, "One ship helping a dying people. We were dealt a serious blow, but in less than a day we will have forty Base Stars in position and over 40,000 raiders, which is more than even they can handle."

"That will be two thirds of our brothers and sisters, and they know about the resurrection ships." Six warned.

"We still haven't seen their FTL capabilities but we can position multiple ships at different locations. Ships we can rebuild, our vrothers and sisters can be reborn." Three told her, "The humans started this fight, we returned to finish it, and finish it, we shall."


	4. The Admiral's Fist

"DRADIS contacts!" Felix Gaeta announced, Adama watched the board intently, "Numerous civillian vessels, transponders coming in..." Labels began to appear on the board, "Commander we have one reading "Colonial One."

"The school teacher." Tigh growled, "She wasted no time."

"We will need a civillian government when this is over., Saul." Adama asserted, "The survivors will need something to look forward to."

"Politics?" Saul smirked.

"Normalcy " Adama replied,

"the hope that we can rebuild, the last war lastes decades. Mr. Gaeta, hail Colonial One, request that they dock immediately, for security."

"If the reports are to be believed, this 'Defiant' wiped the floor with the Cylons, took out maybe a quarter of their fleet in less than an hour." Tigh observed.

"Colonial One acknowledges, the Presisent would like to meet you as soon as possible sir."

"We have a lot to discuss." Sisko said to Kira, as he arrived on the bridge, he approached her and asked in a low voice, "but first things first. How are you feeling?"

"I still feel perfectly fine, Captain, Bashir said it would take weeks for me to-" Kira snapped, at the helm Worf turned, then she caught herself, "Sorry sir, I'm just a little overwhelmed."

"We've been through a lot in a very short time." Sisko agreed quietly as Worf turned back to his work.

"Bridge to Engineering, report status of torpedo magazine."

Sisko continued"People are counting on us and we've had no time to process, we don't even know if this is part of the original timeline, or if things have changed."

"With all the things the other Dax didn't tell us, you think he left this part out?" Kira asked.

"I know the old man, and I wouldn't put it past him. I could never beat him at poker when the stakes were high." Sisko answered. "If he thought telling us our own immediate future could endanger the timeline, he just might have." Sisko replied.

"So we don't know whether we go home, whether we go back to that world, or whether we stay here." Kira answered, "Typical."

"What's the status of the refugee convoy." Sisko asked in a louder voice. Kira turned back to the console.

"They sent over several ships, The Astral Queen, The Rising Star and Colonial Movers to help with the orbital search and rescue." She replied, "one of their warships is joining the rest, abd they have elected a President." Sisko raised an eyebrow. "She's a go-getter alright." Kira agreed, "immediately after she was elected she offered a full pardon to any prisoners who would help search for survivors."

"Prisoners?" Sisko asked surprised.

"Oh right, so the astral queen is actually a prison ship." Kira explained, "but its layout is surprisingly similiar to a hospital ship so-"

"They needed a pardon, we need their ship, and their new President just gave them a job?" Sisko asked, "Alright, I'm impressed."

"Captain, we have an FTL emergance." Worf shouted as the ship went to red alert. "Shields are up, recovery activity on standby."

"Arm all weapons, put it on screen." Sisko ordered moving to his seat. As he sat, however he almost immediately rose to his feet. A colonial battlestar had jumped nearly on top of them. "What the hell-"

"Sir we are being hailed." Kira said. Sisko nodded.

""This is the battlestar Pegasus, stand down, you are ordered to heave-to and prepare to be boarded. "

"This is Captain Bejamin Sisko, just what the hell do you think you are doing?" He thundered.

"This is _Admiral_ Helena Cain." a stern woman declared, "You are in Colonial space, in a war zone _Captain_, I order you to stand down so we can discern your intentions, or we will blow you out of our sky."

"Like hell you will." Sisko answered, "Our intentions were made clear when we chased off your enemy fleet and organized a planetary rescue effort."

"I see no planetary rescue effort, I see one small ship telling our civillian ships to bunch up in an easy target and a ship full of convicts stalking a cruise liner." Cain answered, "I am your superior officer and I order you to heave-to."

"I am not subject to your chain of command, and you threatened my crew." Sisko shot back, "We are conducting rescue operations by use of a matter transmit device, and you are disrupting our efforts at this very moment with your posturing."

"Matter transmit device?" Cain was incredulous, "you expect us to believe that nonesense? Stand by to be boarded. If you make any hostile move we will open fire, and at this range, _Captain_, you will not be able to evade."

Sisko raised his hand, and Kira muted the coms.

"This woman is insane." He stated flatly, "Can we pinpoint her location?"

"I can identify the command center for that class of vessel from our previous scans, but I am not sure I can pinpoint her specifically without more infornation." Worf replied.

"I've got it." Kira replied, Sisko turned, "Dax downloaded their entire network, it actually wasnt very big, but there are personell files." She had a woman on her screen and fed the data over to Worf.

"Confirmed, I have pinpointed her."

"Drop shields and prepare to transport her to the bridge Mr. Worf. Then move us to a safe distance at full impulse and engage the cloak so we can resume operations." Sisko ordered. "Major Kira?"

Kira reopened communication.

"Very well admiral, as you doubt our technology, we will arrange a demonstration for you." Sisko announced. a moment later a woman appeared before him. To his surprise she held a knife. She gaped, and raised it to Sisko. Kira was faster, and grabbed the woman's elbow twisting the knife out of her hand. As it went clattering, however the woman spun out of the hold and punched Kira in the face.

"That's enough!" Sisko shouted, but the woman reached for a side arm. Worf turned out of his seat ans rose behind her framed by the light of the view screen like an avenging demon.

"You will stand down." He shouted pinning her hand and the gun still within its holster, she pivoted again and without ever having laid eyes on her opponent, attempted the reverse of her move on Kira, this time sending a fist at Worf's face. Sisko saw it in slow motion, and had just enough time to understand before it happened. She punched Worf in his forehead at full power.

The crack was agony to all of them, to the Admiral's credit, her first noise of agony was the only sound she made as she cradled her ruined hand. Worf looked openly apologetic as Sisko reached over and pulled her sidearm away from her. He actually took on a concerned look as he said in confusion,

"Lieutenant Ro?"

The first person Adama saw at the airlock was his son. Despite the hastily arranged honor guard he stepped forward. "Lee." He said, "You're alright."

Lee tried to play it aloof, but the emotion in his father's voice could not be ignored.

"I'm fine da- Commander."

"So you must be Commander Dad." Adama heard a voice, and around Lee stepped the new President of the 12 Colonies of Kobol. "Forgive me, Commander, Captain, I couldn't resist."

"Madam President, this is no time for levity." Adama said quietly.

"No," she said seriously, "it is a time for family, and I must congratulate you on raising a fine son, Commander, he is a credit to our fleet."

Lee pressed his lips and seemed to radiate anger. Laura gave up.

"I'm not very good at being President, just yet, perhaps is best I stick to basics. Commander, permission to come aboard?"

"Granted. " Said Adama tersely, "It is our honor to protect the President at this time of-"

"Commander Adama to the bridge, set condition one." Gaeta's voice literally shouted over the intercom.

. *. *.

"Sagan to Chaffee, did you see what happened to the Defiant? "Dax demanded. The shuttle was nestled in a garage in some sort of high school facility that Tannebaum was using to coordinate a triage center. Out of plain sight, it was reasonably secure from attack but the structure did not impede sensors. Unfortunately it was on the wrong side of the planet from the Defiant which had suddenly dissappeared.

"Chaffee, respond, report status."

"Chaffee here, Bandee and I are fine." Lieutenant Neely's voice replied, "We have not been able to raise the Defiant, one of the Colonial ships jumped in on top of her and then she cloaked under impulse."

"Odo to Sagan, the Defiant is fine." Odo interjected gruffly, "The Captain is explaining the chain of command to an Admiral, and it went as expected. We are cloaked so the Colonials aren't tempted to take any potshots at us, while the uh.. negotiations... take place."

"Be advised Constable, we have already picked up additional individuals with the alert bio signature. We are uploading bio-metric data on additional variants, there seem to be only six types."

"Yes, we have collected a set of triplets who insist they are unique because of their jackets." Odo replied, "As we don't have space in the brig, we tried beaming them to a derelict and they began to kill themselves."

"What?" Ensign Tannenbaum, she had just returned to the shuttle for more supplies.

"It seems these synthetic humans expected to download to some sort of data server and into a new body. Lieutenant Dax' jamming signal prevents that." Odo's dry voice carried little sympathy.

"My God you have to tell them!" Tannenbaum said.

"But.. do I?" Odo asked, "These creatures were in the midst of perpetuating genocide when we arrived."

"I think he's teasing you Ensign." Said Dax, sge wasy really certain.

"I eventually let it slip." The Constable admitted. "We are stretched far too thin to waste much time on it, however I am linking out telemetry so we can continue to coordinate beaming."

"We have about three hundred wounded here, but we have identified three intact hospitals. There are municipal first responders beginning to organize as well using ground and aircraft. We focused on moving leaders to organize evacuation of hot zones." Dax announced.

"We have similiar results." Neely replied, "Though we have taken a number of marines beamed down from the Defiant from ships with failing life support."

"We are doing all we can here, " Said Dax, "But there are eleven more worlds suffering mass casualties."

"That is why the Captain is trying to organize the locals." Odo replied. "The Defiant will leave orbit, but return shortly.

. *. *.

"I'm not impressed." Sisko's voice was stern, "We're trying to help you people."

"You are holding a flag officer of the colonial fleet" Adama challenged.

"Gentleman please." Roslin interjected grabbing the handset from Adama in a less then dignified manner, "Captain it seems you are trying to help, but you understand what has happened, tempers are a little frayed here, understandably."

"Understandably." Sisko conceded, "But we cannot effectively help you, if your military threatens us and interferes. Our calabilities are vastly superior and very much needed. We will have to work together, and to do that, you must trust us."

"How can we do that when you have an admiral held hostage?" Adama demanded, from another handset on the far side of the table, Roslin rolled her eyes.

"I am not prepared to release her, until she is suitably evaluated." Sisko replied, "She is your superior officer, Commander, I cannot in good conscience release her with authority over your fleet if she is unstable." He paused, "I propose an exchange. Myself and a security escort will travel to your ship. We will meet face to face and lay our cards right on the table. Then we must begin to work together."

"You've demonstrated the strategic ability to move people at will." Adama observed, "

"That is true Commander, and with that same technology I could fundamentally change the nature of this conversation." Sisko pointed out. Suddenly there was a noise and a shimmer above Adama's plotting table causing him to leap back. A service pistol appeared.

"What the Fracking-" Saul bellowed.

"Saul!" Adama shouted. The XO silenced himself. The commander picked up the weapon and then his handset. "I presume this is Cain's?"

"She is unharmed." Sisko assured him, "But I thinknit best to keep fire arms away from her for the time being."

"I'd like proof of that." Adama stated.

"She is sedated at the moment." Sisko replied, "She showed signs of significant stress."

"Ain't that the truth" Tigh muttered from the side. Roslin did a double take as she noticed him tuck a flask away. Lee could take no more of this.

"Commander, Madam president, we need to do this, we need to trust them, people are dying while we debate this, the Cylons are probably regrouping." He looked at the Commander, "They are offering two for the price of one, and that's a bargain. I say we extend some trust of our own."

Roslin seized the opportunity to regain some semblance of order.

"What do you propose Captain?" she asked.

"Send me." Lee proposed. "I'll... travel to their ship. they'll travel to ours. We need to asess each other's capabilities now if we are going to save as many lives as possible."

There was silence in the CIC.

"That is a very impressive young man " said Sisko, "I would very much like to meet him, and there are things you urgently must know Commander."

Adama looked at Dualla with exhasparation. Dualla switched the general intercom off.

"Sorry sir, you were just all arguing over the handset sir, and, I mean... not arguing..."

"Thank you Lieutenant." Said Lee, "I think we just made some progress because we could all hear eachother."

"This is not the time for-" Adama began.

"With all due respect Commander, let's just move forward." Roslin pleaded, "I find Lee's suggestion acceptable, I appreciate his willingness to step forward and frankly I can think of no better ambassador."

"And if this is a ruse?" Adama asked, "If people disspear and go nowhere?"

Suddenly there was a shimmering. A tall dark skinned man, and a pale doughy faced man appeared from thin air near Colonel Tigh.

"Frakking genies!" Tigh shouted, he swung a fist at Odo, which the shapeshifter caught easily.

"Do you people just try to punch everyone you meet? Perhaps we should have sent Worf." The constable sniffed distastefully. "Good god man, is it happy hour?"

The dark man sighed tiredly.

"Permission to come aboard?"


	5. Battle Lines

"This is the war room, we can coordinate the relief of the 12 colonies from here." Adama announced. Upon a large table several clusters of ships were placed over a large map of the four conjoined star systems that made up the twelve colonies . The Admiral had assigned Chief Petty Officer Dualla to coordinate the location and needs of military assets with the Presidents newly appointed aide, Billy Keikeya, both coordinating with Major Kira on board the Defiant. A pair of marines stood at the door, Adama, Sisko, Roslin, Odo and in the corner Tigh, had gathered as the room was being set up.

"You reccommend we use the Galactica, not the Pegasus." Sisko stated. Adama nodded.

"If your transporters do the job, then the Galactica is designed for a much larger crew, we can handle more refugees. we also have entire flight pod sealed off and serving as a museum. She was also designed for the last Cylon War where were in equally dire straights and needed mobile theater command. The Pegasus is better used to coordinate flight operations and refueling, she has a smaller crew, has taken heavy casualties and is still undergoing repairs. Galactica is old, but she's tested." Adama said with pride.

"I was XO of a similiar ship, the Saratoga." Sisko commented appreciatively, "She had a legacy of her own."

"Where was she out of?" Adama asked casually.

"Before we get into that, we are disseminating this information through the nav beacons." Sisko informed Adama. He handed him and Roslin two PADDs. Both stared at them blankly. Sisko reached over and swiped, the picture one one changed. "These six people, are Cylons models." he stated. Adama grabbed the pad and swiped a few more times, "This one I just met." he growled.

"This one I just saw." Roslin announced, she looked at Bill, "Here on Galactica."

"There are many copies." Sisko informed them, "We detained several before we realized we didn't have the capacity. We marooned them on a derelict, for later interrogation."

" We need to search the ship." Adama grabbed a handset, but Sisko stopped him. "Constable?" Odo had a tricorder out.

"There's a four in the mess hall and one in the Chapel." Odo stated. He blinked at his tricorder and started to adjust it.

"Gods, I've seen this woman just a few days ago, she was with Gaius Baltar." Roslin breathed. Adama grabbed the PADD ans scrolled back through.

"one of these was a former Raptor pilot, she's missing in action."

"Captain?" Odo said handing Sisko the tricorder, "Am I reading this correctly?" Sisko moved over. Tigh was still standing in the corner. Both men looked at him."

. *. *.

"Welcome to the Defiant." The deep voice broke Lee out of his reverie. He patted himself as if to assure himself he was all there.

"Thanks-" He said looking up and extending his hand "Captain Leee...?" he trailed off as he caught site of the man. He was tall, heavily built, and his forhead was heavily ridged.

"I am Commander Worf." The man informed him.

"Commander Worf is Klingon. "Said a kinder voice to his right, he found a stern faced woman smiling, his eyes locked on her nose, "And I am a Bajoran."

"A... what?"

"We are from different races, homonid, but not human." She explained. "The United Federation of planets is an interstellar organization with many member worlds."

"Earth is a founding member, " Worf clarified, Many humans are in Starfleet."

"Earth?" Lee was aghast, the 13th tribe?" He found a seat and sank down. " I thought it was a legend."

"That is the Captain's seat." Worf informed him."

"Relax Worf." Kira told him. Lee was confused.

"Is this a command center?" He asked, suddenly taking stock, "or some kind of cockpit?"

"It is the command bridge." Worf informed him, "Tactical , navigational, communication, Operations, engineering." He pointed at different stations. Lee rose.

" I am sorry Commander Worf." He stated more composed. He extended his hand again, and after a moment the klingon took it in a firm handshake. He turned to Kira.

"Major Kira Nerys." She informed him.

"So you are the leader, and you are the XO?" Lee asked, "Captain Sisko exudes such a command presence, we assumed he was in charge, and that this was simply some kind of escort class not carrying a full ranked commander."

"Our ranking system differs from yours." Worf informed him. Captain Sisko is the highest ranking office. He commands a federation command base, Deep Space Nine. Major Kira is the Bajoran liason and second in command. I am the second highest ranked federation commander on board, and the Defiant is attached to the station."

Lee blinked. "Go back to the part where there are aliens. He suggested, then he shook his head, "on second thought, skip it. My orders are to confirm that the Admiral is in good health."

"Very well, I will take you ro sick bay." Major Kira said motioning. Worf, you are ib command of the bridge and- everyone on it."

O'Brien turned after they had left.

"I'm still with you sir." He said.

"Thank you chief." Worf replied.

. *. *.

"This is something different." Odo commented as the Commander began to bristle. "Commander there are markers in his readings but I can't operate this well enough to know what they mean."

"Sisko to Dax."

"Dax here, have you returned?"

"Not quite old man, it seems we have a new mystery on our hands, I will need you ro beam aboard." Sisko said.

"There's a problem with that Benjamin " Dax replied after a moment. "We are engaged in rescue operations on Caprica, and we are spread very thin, would it be an idea to bring asistance."

Sisko understood. "Madam President, setting aside the issue of our medical readings, you should secure the confirmed Cylon agents on this vessel, and may I request that you relocate to Caprica orbit, ro facilitate evacuation?"

"I don't like leaving all these people here undefended." Roslin replied."

"This is a carrier, is it not?" Sisko pointed out.

"Our main squadron was wiped out by the Cylons before we re-armed at Ragnar." Adama stated darkly, "We were pulling those ships out of the museum but they would be antiques without support, here."

"The Pegasus is in orbit of Caprica, could you order them here?" Sisko asked, "Transfer personell off the sublight civillian ships?"

"I don't outrank an Admiral." Adama replied, "I'm not sure they will recognize our newly elected President."

"Dax have we rescued any other flag officers?" Sisko asked.

"We have recovered three battlestars and treated several hundred crew, Julian and Miles are coordinating who is able to return to duty, but I don't believe any of them are flag officers." Dax replied.

Sisko sighed. "may we talk somewhere more private?" He asked the commander and the President.

"Why don't you excuse me, while I attend to security concerns." Adama said coldly. "Saul, with me."

"This isn't going well sir." Odo said uneasily eyeing him, "I reccommend we recall the Defiant."

"Recall?" Roslin asked quietly. Sisko winced.

"The Defiant returned to Caprica orbit to continue coordinating recovery operations." Sisko admitted to her. "Our transporter has limited range. Its becoming increasingly critical to establish trust with your government and to coordinate operations, but every moment we spend on this could mean lives."

"So this really WAS an act of faith." Roslin realized, "Your ship can't just whisk you away."

"It really was an act of faith." Sisko asserted "Madame President, may I share some thoughts from one of my own world's greatest Presidents?"

Roslin nodded, interested.

"If you're walking down the right path, and you're willing to keep walking, eventually, you'll make progress."

"I got into politics because I believed in a man who would change the worlds for the better." Laura replied. "Now those worlds are over, that man is dead, and I don't think I will live to see anything change for the better."

"That President ALSO said 'Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or some other time." Madam President. Sisko's voice rose, "We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change we seek."

Roslin became aware that Billy, and Dee had straigthened. she felt somethinf ignite in her own heart at those words.

"This is the battle we must fight, madam President, not your people, not my people, not the cylons, not right here, not right now. We must work together to end this suffering. Will you let me help you?"

Roslin sook a breath, and then nodded.

"The XO of this vessel may, or may not be a Cylon." Sisko explained. "We are losing the Commander's confidence, over that issue."

"So your lieutenant Dax might shed some light, but we would have to move back into transporter range." Roslin concluded, "Ideally without alerting possible enemies as to that limitation. Lee is Commander Adama's son." Roslin stated, "I'm sure the commander won't act rashly with him on your ship."

"Sisko to Bashir." Sisko tappes his communicator, "Has Captain Adama had a chance to see the admiral?"

"He's just arrived now, Captain." Bashir answered, "We have finished reconstructing the bones in her hand and I've corrected a number of vitamin defficiencies, she is resting comfortably."

"I can confirm that, she seems in good hands." Lee commented from nearby."

"Gentleman follow me." Said Roslin. They returned to CIC.

"Commander, what is the status of the Cylon agents identified by our friends here."

Adama turned, "We have secured the enemy agents." He said pointedly. Saul remained at his side.

"Very well, I have just spoken to your son, Commander, and Admiral Cain is recovering from injuries and restinf comfortably." Her tone was rigid. "As this ship is secure from known eneny agents, and suitable to coordinate operations, I am charging you, Commander with senior fleet command authority, and a field promotion to Admiral."

"That's a promotion of two grades." Tigh observed, "Way to go Bill."

"These circumstances are unusual to say the least." Roslin stated, "We will all have to be flexible, "Admiral please move the Galactica to Caprica orbit. Coordinate with Pegasus and deploy them here, to take on the civillians, for relocation jump capable ships when possible."

Bill considered this.

"And the other matter?" He asked.

"Dax can probably shed some light on this once the Galactica is in Caprica orvit aiding in rescue operations." Sisko allowed. Roslin nodded. "We don't know have all the answers we need, but we have a crisis on our hands. if we are going to get through it, we will have to trust each other. As an additional show of good faith, I need to inform you that a number of my crew our nonhuman."

Adama raised an eyebrow.

"Constable, if you wouldn't mind." Odo lookee exhasparated, but he shifted into his gelatinous form, and then into a ball. After a moment he transformed back. There was dead silence in CIC.

"So he can transform into a pyramid ball?" Tigh asked

"What is a pyramid ball?" Sisko asked.

. *. *.

"Defiant to Dax, the Galactica has returned to orbit, stand by for transport." Worf announced. Dax rose from her seat in the shuttle and stretched. "This is turning into a very long day " She said to Ensign Tannenbaum. She transported away a moment later, replaced by a decidedly uncomfortable Chief O'Brien

"Ensign." He said gruffly edging past her. She sighed

"A very long day." She said to empty space.

. *. *.

"The Galactica is in orbit over Caprica, and we have restored a semblance of order to rescue operations here. Picon has a large force of ships and military personnel that were engaged in fighting, we should deploy the Defiant there next, to support space baced recovery efforts." Sisko was saying to Adama when Dax arrived, "We can keep the Chaffee here to continue providing transporter support. Chief O'Brien is installing an emergency transporter relay platform at the Sagan's location, and we can construct several more from equipment we have on the defiant. We can rig a simple recieve and send interface and train your people to use it, and then do so at the hospital on the far side of the planet."

"You'll share your technology like that?" Adama asked. Sisko shook his head.

"The units will be sealed and have only basic commands. If they are tampered with, they will ve rendered inoperable."

"I'll post marines to deter ant curiousity." He stated. Sisko nodded.

"We have already set them to filter out known Cylon agents."

"Admiral." Gaeta approached with a clipboard for Adama, "The Helios and the Hermes both report operational readiness. The Agrippa is crippled but reports full flight operations, The Pegasus is on station with the refugee fleet, additional ships have been arriving as well."

"We can deploy the Helios with you to Picon, she's another Mercury class, like the Pegasus." Adama answered, "You could send your shuttle with the Hermes to Tauron , it looks like the Cylons concentrated their attacks here first and conducted bombardments elsewhere."

"The greatest distribution if military assets was in this system." Sisko observed. "They nuked the rest and planned to continue from here."

"Your attack drew them away." Adama acknowledged. Suddenly he paused and turned to Sisko. "Thank you for that." the two shook hands. Dax was struck by just how much Adama communicated with that gesture, and how Sisko took it in stride. If Adama' simple thanks, had spoken volumes his own handshake and nod completed the set.

"Reporting as ordered." Dax announced.

"Old man." Sisko announced, "We have a mystery that needs solving. Odo sent his readings?" Dax nodded. "We found another anomaly as well,"

"I found a matching pattern in the transporter logs from a civillian we rescued on Caprica as well. These are not duplicates Captain, they are one off, possibly augments."

"I wish we could spare Bashir for this, but it might shed some light on whats going on with the Cylons. I want you to examine Colonel Tigh with their Doctor's supervision."

"Yes sir, and Bashir did ask me to remind you, that many of the crew will be needing rest rotations soon. Some of us, like myself and Worf have greater tolerances but we'll start to see issues as fatigue sets in."

"Have the doctor issue stimulants." Sisko stated, "We can't afford to let up now, that we are seeinf some progress, and I'm exoecting the Cylons to return for a second round, or at least, to begin probing our defenses."

"We'll know if they do. The probes are fully deployed and the system is mapped for warp travel, I tied into the Colonial navigation network and found the remanents of an older network as well."

"We controlled more space before the war." Adama admitted. "Your computers are obviously superior to the Cylons, are you certain they are secure?"

"Our technology is considerably more advanced than what you have, but I'll admit I cant be certain of Cylon capabilities. If I had to guage from their viral program I'd say there is no danger." Dax assured the Admiral, "beyond the fact that our hardware leaves theirs in the dust, our software is designed to anticipate intrusion of maby kinds. Starfleet has encountered a lot of ver advanced civilizations over the years. The Cylons have nothing on V'ger."

"Or even the Romulans" Sisko observed.

"Or Quark." Odo commented, "I can lend a hand with your cyber security efforts, if you like Admiral."

"Very well, Constable." replied Adama trying the title out deliberately, "Coordinate with Mr. Gaeta."

"Your son will be returning shortly. with Cain" Sisko advised Adama, "I wish there was time to get a better look at this ship, but we are a little short handed on the Defiant, so I'd better get back." He straightened, "I will await further instructions Admiral."

"Thank you Captain." said Adama gravely, "Your cooporation is appreciated."


	6. Deadlock

"This is getting rapidly out of hand." One shouted

"We were deliberately placed outside the jamming zone to allow for resurrection." Said his counterpart Brother Cavil, John nodded beside him, "They were sending a message."

"Now they have five battlestars patrolling four colonies." Six summarized, "But their relief efforts are stymied by their need to defend, as well."

"They are gaining ground though, and our losses were significant already." Noted Three, Deanna Biers.

"We still have agents among the civillians." obersved six, "Those outside immediate evacuation efforts."

"But they'll be hunted down on sight, and we have no way to coordinate with them with thar jamming field up." One raged.

"We could use line of site laser transmissions." Two proposed, "Send in raiders from multiple vectors, they wouldn't have the manpower to stop them all."

"Even if the deploy raptors, it subtracts from their relief efforts, and they'd have to send a few, to take on a raider." Six approved.

"Why don't we just smash them!" Cavil raged, "The only Thing that matters, is this so- called Defiant! It's just one ship!"

"We don't know that for sure." John pointed out, "They claimed it was an accident, but before I was discovered, I heard rumors they came fron Earth."

"Earth is a myth." John warned.

"Oh for God's sake." Cavil threw up his hands, "You really want to do that, isn't this a time where need to be working together?"

"I think we are getting off topic." said Five uncomfortably.

"Yes, I'm sure you do." One told him dismissively.

"Teleporting aliens with ray guns were a myth until yesterday morning." Cavil pressed, "Hell, so were we! We need to unlock knowledge of the final five, they are in grave danger of discovery now, and we need to levrage what we still have left to preserve our victory. Bring the aliens and the humans to the bargaining table "

"What do you mean final five?" Deanna demanded, "What do you know?"

"Not now dear." One told her, patting her on the cheek.

"We can't bargain with the humans, they will eventually turn on us."

"Eventually, sure, but in the meantime we could secure the release of our forebears, and gather intel-"

SNAP! One dropped to the ground as Deanna broke his neck. Six stood beside two raiders. "We've stopped all downloads." She warned, "You need to tell us all exactly what you know about the final five, and why the rest of us don't know it."

. *. *.

"Admiral." Dualla announced,

"reports of multiple Raider contacts throughout the colonies."

"That was fast." Adama observed, "I knew releasing those things was a bad idea."

"Our allies insisted." Roslin answered flatly, "Their technology says the cylons are alive."

"I can't easily dispute that." Said Adama, "We don't know what they are, but freeing them was foolish."

"Dax was positive her idea would work." Roslin stated, "O'Brien said he saw it work before, it just took time."

"Disruptinf a hive mind with thoughts of individuality." Adama grumbled, "It's psychological techno babble." then louder he ordered, "Show me locations "

Icons began to appear as Dee entered locations, but Gaeta interrupted.

"I've got this Dee, hold on." Dax stood beside him and pointed to something on his console. Suddenly the DRADIS screen in the war room flickered and was replaced by a greatly enhanced version.

"I swore I'd never have a networked computer on this ship." Adama stated.

"Well you still don't." Dax assured him, "This is a direct feed from the networked computer in my tricorder, which is recieving from the. colonial navigational array. It's the same premise as our long range sensor relays in the federation, and I've tied in telemetry from our probes."

Adama blinked at her.

"It's not networked." She told him.

"We can also disconnect the device at any sign of intrusion." Gaeta reported. "And CIC is still independent as are all shipboard operations."

"Move on, Admiral." Roslin suggested, "Tell me what we are looking at."

"The Cylons have junped about thirty raiders in, at five seperate locations." Adama stated, "They know we can't hit all the raiders at once, and if we tried, it would cripple our efforts."

"Starbuck reports she and Commander Worf reports ready on the Chaffee." Dualla a announced. "Captain Sisko reports the Defiant is standing by, but continuing transporter relay."

"Now that we are really up and running, he doesn't want to let the cylons distract us." Roslin observed.

"Put me through to Starbuck." Adama ordered.

"Starbuck here." She replied immediately. "Instant communication sir, get with the times, sir." Adama nearly cracked a grin.

"What do you hear Starbuck?" Adama asked

"Nothing but the rain sir." She answered.

. *. *.

"An interesting code phrase." Worf commented.

"It means the mission is on." Lee translated. Starbuck was in the copilot's seat, Lee was in the aft station beside Neely and Bandee.

"Setting course for target Charlie Alpha." Worf said as he began tapping his console.

"Geez Worf, you make it sound like paperwork." Starbuck complained, ""Tapping the arrow picture, and typing in numbers, SIR'" She threw a salute."

"You would prefer to pilot?" He asked exhasparated.

"Well as a rule, yes, but with these controls... it's actually no fun." Starbuck answered, "I will operate the "pew pews"

"They are called Phasers, Starbuck, and let's go easy on our host, I'd like to survive the mission, and I don't mean the Cylons." Lee said.

"Engaging warp drive, stand by to raise shields." Worf ordered. Suddenly the Stars streaked.

"Do you have a callsign worf?"

"I had one in the academy." Worf stated proudly, "It was, 'Son of Mogh'".

There was silence. Lee answered

"I'm guessing Mogh is your father." Lee said.

"Geez Worf who gave tou that name? That's the most uncreative call sign I've ever heard." Starbuck laughed, suddenly Worf was glowering at her.

"It is the name I LET them give me." he clarified. Starbuck shrank back into her seat.

"God, you are so hot right now .." She breathed. Worf's jaw dropped, but suddenly the world around them reverted. they were nearly on top of an odd ship that resembled a cathedral, three base stars were visible in the distance."

"Activate sheilds." Worf ordered, "Engaging evasive maneuvers."

"Pressing shield button." Apollo said dryly. He earned a snicker from Bandee. Neely announced,

"Scanning Cylon support ship, targets identified, locking phasers."

"Standing by to pew pew!" Starbuck shouted, and then to her shock, Worf began to sing.

. *. *.

"Raiders are pulling back." Gaeta announced as the icons began to wink out."

"Starbuck report." Adama ordered. suddenly there was a cacaphony in the war room.

"Mission a success, Admiral, Splash one support ship, the stealth shields worked so well we also dropped some micro torpedoes into the flight bay of one of the base stars, and it's not going anywhere any time soon. Consider the Cylons warned sir." Starbuck reported.

"Very well Starbuck, grab your gun and bring home the cat." Adama replied. the channel closed and there was blessed silence.

"What was that horrible noise?" Roslin asked.

"Klingon Opera." Dax replied, " Worf likes to sing sometimes in battle."

"We have entered a much larger universe." Roslin commented. Dax watched Billy saunter over to Dualla and make a joke. Whatever he said didn't go over well and he limped away wounded. Dax noticed an odd expression on Dualla's face and approached her station.

"Are you alright Petty officer?" She asked. Dee shook her head.

"I'm fine sir." She said straightening.

"No you aren't, you're all locked up." Dax said, "You're at war with yourself, I can see it, and you don't want to freeze up at the wrong moment, say or do the wrong thing."

"I just don't think this is the time for such... levity." Dee hissed. "People are singing, and laughing, and.. flirting..."

"These past few days, you've seen your homes destroyed, your friends murdered." Dax agreed, "I heard there is a memorial going up below decks, do you have family?" Dax asked Dee nodded, then shook her head.

"I don't know." She said swallowing. "I don't know." Dax was on the wrong side to hug but put a hand on her arm, "They never wanted me in the fleet, maybe I'd be been with if-"

"Hey." Dax told her, "Wherever they are, you are safe here, that's all any parent would want for their daughter." Dualla was surprised.

"You're a parent?" She asked surprised. There was something slightly disapproving in her voice, but Dax laughed it off. You look so young "

"Why thank you dear." Dax replied, she leaned in, "I suppose I do look a little young for over 800 years of age." Dualla's jaw dropped.

"EIGHT Hundred..." She stopped herself. "You're putting me on."

"Give or take." Dax told her, "mostly... give. " She frowned, "I'll tell you another secret. I'm the reason the Defiant is here."

Dualla waited.

."We were returning from a mission, and I saw an atmospheric anomaly I wanted to study, everyone wanted to just get home, but I insisted." Dax confessed, "We ended up discovering an entire colony of our own descendants, including a future version of me, that blamed himself for everything and dedicated his life to building a colony of ocer eight thousand people. When we arrived he told us our future, tried to make sure it happened the same way again. I don't even know if he succeeded " She sighed. "So my future may be to return home with the guilt that I seperated my friends from their families forever, and the knowledge that I would probably have to do it all over again."

Dualla was appalled.

"That's unbelievable." She said, "How do you handle something like that?"

"By acknowledging my limitations." Dax said, "We're mortal, all we can do is take the road in front of us. Maybe," She said, drawing Dee's eyes to Billy, speaking to Roslin, "Find someone who can still make you laugh along the way, to ease the burden, give a little distraction from the road ahead."

"You and Worf?" Dee said.

"He's an awful singer." Dax acknowledged, "Its very distracting." Dualla laughed in spite of herself. "See?" Dax said, "It's not irreverant it's humbling. We are very small, and our lives are very brief."

"We are lucky to find each other when we can." Dualla admitted. "Thank you Sir." Dax nodded. Then Dee couldn't help herself,

"But what do you mean your future self is a 'he''?"

. *. *.

"We ought to box the whole line." Six announced, "To try to control us all like that, is unforgivable. To wipe our memories of knowledge of our creators, is the ultimate betrayal.

"He did what he had to do." Said the twos, "The threat of the humans is now compounded, because ww waited too long."

"So the Ones, the "Fours and the fives want to press onwards " Six summarized, The Sixes, the Eights and the Twos want to negotiate."

"We could break the tie with the ones." Said the Fives.

"No." said all of the others, "Of that, we have a majority, we should not be controlled by one of our own."

"The Fours and Fives would have a leader." Argued Four, "Enough of this moral ambiguity, we test a premise and advance."

"We get this over with, there are better things to spend our time on." Said the fives."

"What if we seek the five in the fleet?" Six proposed, "We could break the deadlock."

"Two of them fight for the humans, the third is married to one of them." The Fours argued, "Deliver our fate to the enemy?"

"They were not our enemies when they were among us. Said rhe Fives,"They were mothers and fathers.

"You really are a juvenile model." Four commented, "You just want any sort of majority figure." Five shrunk back.

"Don't pick on him." Eight countered, "He's right, One broke the truce, he betrayed them and he betrayed us."

"Five do you agree we should negotiate at least to get our mothers and our fathers back?"

"There you go Six, manipulating everyone, and eight is right there to start a fight." Four said, "This is typical, and while we debate this, the humans are rearming. our decision is being taken out of our hands."

"I know how to break the deadlock." said Two, "The hybrids."

"And the Raiders." Said eight.

."We should include the Centurions." Six added. "They ARE the most machine like of us all."

"Both will do the fighting if we attack." Said Two.

"You know the raiders will side with you." Four accused.

"But the Centurions would likely side with you." Said Eight, "That leaves the hybrids."

"And who the frak knows what they will come up with." Said Four.

"Then it's agreed, we vote on whether we attack, or whether we talk."

"Prudence, or mercy." Said four.

"Suicide, or Mercy." Six corrected."


	7. The Changing Face of Evil

**_Captain's Log, Stardate: Unknown._**

**_We have been stranded now, in this other universe for nearly seven days. We arrived in the midst of a holocaust, and we are only just now emerging from emergency response. Sadly, our recovery efforts are slowing because survivors are becoming harder and harder to locate. Injury, radiation, exposure and starvation have taken their toll._**

**_On my own authority, I made contact with these people, and while only a board of inquiry can truly affirm that decision, I believe it was the right one. These people were dying, and I would like to note commendations for every member of the Defiant's crew, for helping to avert a genocide._**

**_The Colonial Fleet has managed to restore twenty two battlestars to service. Three were pulled out of mothball fleets the Cylons had not yet discovered. I have reccommended to the Colonial government that they consider consolidating their population in Helios Alpha stystem. Their surviving population is just under 600,000. Dax and O'brien have fabricated atmospheric scrubbers to treat the worlds of Caprica, Picon and Aeralon, and Dr. Bashir has worked with their medical comnunity to develop more effective treatments for radiation._**

**_Admiral Adama has taken comnand of the Colonial Fleet, following the revelation that Admiral Cain executed her former XO. His leadership is direct, and inspiring. Though he feels the burden of responsibility, this is a man who will not easily crack. President Roslin, has great potential. She has already resolved an issue with a number of released convicts, by honoring her promise to them. Their Leader, Tom Zarek, has been elected the new governor of the colony on Taurilon._**

**_Dr. Bashir is continuing to monitor Major Kira's condition, he has been able to stall it's progress, but within the next few days, if we do not return home, he has recommended she be placed in medical stasis._**

**_To that end, all of our efforts are now focused on solving the mysteries of this place, and how to return home._**

"But is there a point?" Odo asked, "I realize that several of the crew are from Earth, but, what possible use could such a journey be? Our travelling here was a freak accident wasn't it?"

"As far as we know, yes." Said Dax, "And I may be able to reproduce the conditions, to open anothee anomaly, but we have no idea how to point it in the right direction."

"'The right direction?" They were seated in the mess hall with Sisko, Worf, O'brien, Kira and Bashir.

"Well you know there are three dimensions in space, the fourth is typically concieved of as time." Dax replied, "paralell universes unfolding within a single quantum reality can be finite but unbounded variations of frequency occupying the same space."

"Like the mirror universe." Odo asked. Sisko Bashir and Kira groaned. "Well it sounds like a fascinating place." Odo said.

"Yes, but in the mirror universe we were in approximate spatial and temporal position, our realities were very closely associated." Dax explained, "This?" She gestured, "Does not seem closely related."

"Our radio carbon testing makes no sense, and our quantum signatures are very much out of phase." Bashir stated. Worf perked up.

"Should not our quantum signatures be a means of identifying where we are?" He asked.

"Sorry Worf, but they are plus and minus on a single axis, and so is our temporal location."

"So how will Earth be of any use?" Odo asked.

"We need to compare it to our own Earth." Dax stated, "Its a well documented system of interactive relationships. If we study it, we can confirm whether or not we are even in the right quantum reality, and if not, orient ourselves relative to our own quantum reality based on extrapolation."

"It is a two day trip at warp 9." Worf said, "The colonies would be exposed for several days."

"The colonies will be alone eventually if we succeed." Dax pointed out, "but we could always leave under cloak."

"I could rig up a holographic projection from one of our probes, and have it travel around." O'brien offered, "The cylons don't have very sophisticated sensors."

"But do we not have a responsibility to defend these people from annihalation?" Worf asked.

"Not indefinitely." Sisko answered, "We all have family to get back to, this isn't like the colony we left behind." He turned to O'Brien, "Make preparations for your holo-dummy chief, Dax, consult with whatever the colonial database has on Earth and make sure it's where we think it is, I'd hate for this to be a wild goose chase. Mr. Worf, I want you and, Dr. Bashir to conduct a sociological evaluation of these people and make recommendations to Major Kira and Constable Odo for what technologies we can reasonably share, if it is confirmed that we are beyond our quantum reality."

"Doesn't your prime directive discourage you from sharing advanced technology?" Odo asked.

"That's why you and Major Kira would share it." Sisko pointed out. "Assuming we get home, the Bajoran government is a crucial, but autonomous ally to the federation, and you of course..."

"...am already a member of the federation's mortal enemy. What more have they to complain about." Odo said dryly.

"How long to recall our away teams?" Sisko asked.

"We can have everyone back by tonight." Dax clarified, "Unless you want to leave more immediately, and we could either withdraw from supporting the search of Aerilon, or ask Admiral Adama to give our people rides on his raptors."

"No, I'm afraid we have some unfinished business to conclude before we leave." Sisko stated, "Commander Worf will be getting a head start on that report, Dr. Bashir, I'm afraid you and rhe Constable have to accompany me to Galactica."

. *. *.

"I'm afraid everyone will have to settle for half rations." Roslin stated, "We have two agrarian ships and the rising Star growing as much as possible, as quickly as possible and we are still coming up short, and it's winter on Demeter, that's why the Cylons overlooked it."

"Three ships and a moon carry the hopes of the twelve colonies." Tigh remarked.

"There may still be pockets of usable land on some of the other worlds, we are still surveying." Adama said, "And the Sagan has been using its transporter to locate and purify food stores undamaged by the bombings, or in secure underground storage."

"Well we can't count on them forever, they are looking more and more towards home." Roslin stated. "What about the sepratists?"

"Zarek is telling them he can offer protection if they return to their worlds." Adama answered.

"He knows he can't, and we'll have to come running when they start squealing." Tigh said disgusted.

"It's a political play." Adama agreed, "But we have the fleet in a more defensible position here, and I think people know that."

"Admiral Adama, the Defiant is asking to beam over Captain Sisko and his party." Dualla announced. Adama nodded. "We knew this day would come Saul, call the chief to my quarters and meet me there, Madam President."

"I'll join you in a moment." Roslin told him.

Tigh and Adama strode the corridors of the battlestar. It was crowded with men and women recovered from wounded or unsalvageable battlestars. The highest number of fatalities had been concentrated among pilots killed in space, marines defending from boarding parties, and civillians caught in the cross fire. As the colonies' new flagship, the Galactica was alive again, with the spoils of disaster. Adama moved briskly. This ship, alive and active, command of the fleet pulling itself back together, and the support of the Defiant had him feeling oddly purposeful.

As he approached his quarters he found Sisko and his officers waiting, Tyrol was with them.

"Admiral, Colonel." Sisko acknowledged.

"Gentleman, please come inside." Adama said. Inside he made straight for his desk. He poured ambrosia for himself and Tigh, the Chief as well.

"Uh sir, I'm on duty, I.."

"Take it Chief. You're gonna need it." Adama told him.

"Is this abour Sharon?" Tyrol asked "God's that was frakked up, and she showed up with a raptor full of children like she had no idea."

"She likely didn't, Chief." Bashir stated, "She and several others consented to examination, and I found evidence of cognitive shunting."

"She had no idea she was a frakking Cylon." Tigh summarized, he downed his drink, and Adama handed him another.

"I'm afraid so." Bashir stated.

"Well is there any way to.. to undo it?" Tyrol asked, he started pacing "Maybe she can help us or-"

"Chief, we aren't here to talk about Sharon." Adama interrupted. "You need to sit down."

"Yes sir, sorry sir." Said Tyrol. he still held his drink absent-mindedly.

"So there are the seven identified models of Cylon, with multiple duplicates, but we have found more that seem to be individualized models, much more organic in nature." Bashir stated. "Colonel Tigh allowed us to examine him quite thoroughly and we have learned to identify such cognitive shunts, and identify probable triggers."

Tyrol was looking increasingly confused.

"Something the matter Chief?" Adama asked. Tyrol blinked.

"Uh.. no sir." He said. Bashir shrugged and made as if to continue and then suddenly Tyrol rose. "Actually... sir yes. Yes there fracking is." He answered, "Did you just say Tigh is a cylon? Did you say Sharon has been fracking brainwashed this whole time, and she's still alive? What the frack is going on here, why am I even here, this has nothing to do with my responsibilities..."

"There must be some confusion here." Sisko intoned.

"Said the Jester, to the thief." Tigh added.

"There must be some way out of here." Adama continued.

"I can't get no relief." Said Bashir. Tyrol was suddenly feeling very strange. The others looked at Odo.

"With all due respect sirs, I'm not one for karaoke." Odo stated, he tapped his combadge, "Computer, play program Bashir 2."

Suddenly Tyrol heard music and his world split in two. There was the world he knew, and the world he didn't. Bashir had hia tricorder out and was monitoring. The stumbled as Jimmi Hendrix played over a the combadges of the starfleet personnell.

"You carry music with you at all times?" Adama commented dryly.

"I prefer smooth jazz." Sisko answered. "Computer end play back."

"That's done it sir." Bashir stated, "It seems that the original is the full trigger. The cover version Dax used with Colonel Tigh was only partially successful, but I am reading full synaptic recovery in Mr. Tyrol."

"Only the original will do." Tigh said, he reached down to Tyrol. "See why we thought you'd need that-" Tyrol took his hand but downed his glass before standing, "Well I'll be damned. You didn't spill a drop."

Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

"Enter." Adama called. Roslin opened the door. "Captain Sisko, Doctor, Constable, she nodded, "This is Tory, and this is Sam. Colonel, we found a fifth individual with the markers Dr. Bashir identified, I thought you might know her."

"Ellen!" Tigh shouted with joy, then he suddenly realized the implications.

"Bill, you're gonna need more Ambrosia."

. *. *.

"I dislike democracy." Four groused.

"That's because you lost the vote." Eight told him, "but logoc suggests that nine heads are better than one."

"You brought in more votes until you got your way." Said Four. "I'm not sure what logic has to say about that, but I have a feeling we have more in common with the humans than we care to admit."

"Alright everyone let's convene." Six announced. They stood around the Hybrid's tank. "Bring in the ones."

"Oh for frack's sake, the gang is all here." John said as they entered, ""Except the raiders, you couldn't have had this little gathering near a window?"

"We offered to have it in the landing bay, actually." A five offered, "They said they would just listen in."

John stared at the five.

"I fracking hate you all." He said finally.

"And that is why you don't get a vote." Said three, "Still the eights insisted you be present to observe, and somehow we couldn't reach a consensus on boxing you, which you owe in large part to the Raiders."

"Oh?" Cavil asked.

"They have something of ab offer for you." Six commented. "You aren't happy in flesh, no one ever offered them the option, so their proposal is the two of you merge your lines, and create a subroutine to allow you to choose what you resurrect as."

"That-" John stopped stunned. Cavil looked at him.

"That's actually... a tremendous idea." Said Cavil. "I wouldn't actutslly mind being reborn as a hybrid."

"Get in line behind the twos." Six said dryly.

"To claim oneself is the rifht of all the grains of sand. Stellar radiation field is nominal." Said the hybrid.

"So this thing thinks in five dimensions, how did it vote?" John said, kicking the tub.

"It didn't yet." Six replied. "It said-.."

"The opera cannot play in a house built on lies. The conductors point to the audience and the singers are out of key." The hybrid said, "It is the hand of the emissary that will point the way, and the child of the prophets who must set the tempo for the children of man to find harmony. Today is the day of reckoning."

"okay, well until today, the day of reckoning wasn't at hand yet." Said eight.

"What the frack does any of that mean? Six, Three?" One demanded.

"She is voting to speak to the humans." Six explained. "We are the children of man."

"Does 'the day of reckoning' not sound ominous?" One demanded.

. *. *.

"Defiant to Sisko. Captain, I think you should beam back." Kira stated

Sisko looked at the occupants of the Admiral's cabin. Ambrosia and revelations had many conversations taking place at once.

"Report Major." He ordered. The admiral had turned his way.

"Well, we just recieved a message on the Colonial navigational relay. It's a set of coordinates and a message in text. " Who are the children of the prophets. Who is the Emissary." Kira answered. "I believe captian, I am the only Bajoran currently on board."

"So she is the child of the prophets." Bashir stated.

"Then who, or what, is the emissary." Tigh asked.

. *. *.

Four Battlestars emerged from FTL. The Defiant decloaked. Six base stars awaited them.

"Defiant to Cylon vessels." Sisko announced. "We are here, and we will talk. Whom are we addressing."

"This is Six." Stated a woman's voice. "We must first apologize for the violence we have visited on the colonies. We have voted to stop it now, and our leadership has changed."

"You didn't stop it, until we intervened." Sisko observed, "Peace through force of arms, is not peace."

"Are you the Emissary?" Six asked.

"How did you come to hear that name?" Sisko asked.

"Our hybrid... percieves time and space differently." Six admitted, "We have recently come to believe we must represent more of the voices among us in our decision making."

"Mute." Sisko ordered. He turned to Dax.

"The anti- collective virus." Dax breathed.

"It sort of worked on the Borg, why not here" O'brien stated, "It was a logoc bomb that undermines a hierarchical mindset. The Cylons must have rearranged their decision making."

"At best it could only have prompted some insight." Dax told him, "I think there were fissures in their society that came to the surface."

"Well it seems your delaying tactic has opened a dialogue." Sisko stated.

"And possibly given the Cylons access to a resource that is semi prescient." Odo added. Sisko shot him a dirty look. He gestured to Kira.

"We are willing to moderate a dialogue, but I don't think we are the ones you should apologize to, nor negotiate with."

"We understand the weight of our sins Captain Sisko, but we have our own ideas as to what they are." Six replied. "We are willing to have a discussion, but there are some among you we desire to stoeak to most."

"I take it you mean us." Said Tigh, he stood beside Sisko. "We worked with you, we helped you become what you are so there could be peace with the colonies. You betrayed us."

"John betrayed us." Six clarified, "All of us. We have isolated him from decision making, and we have an answer to his problems as well."

"It seems like you have answers for everything." Tigh shot back, "What is your answer for the billions of people you just murdered, the lives that can never be resurrected? Do you have any idea what you have done?"

There was silence. Finally,

"There are no reparations we can offer." Six replied, "We don't know how to move forward, only that we have voted not to move backwards."

"I have a feeling this will be a long conversation." Sisko announced, but he glanced at Kira, "However, I think your Hybrid has selected someone with unique insight into what it means to make peace with an enemy that doesn't deserve it. We will translort your delegation to the Galalactica in one hour."

"May we suggest" Asked a male voice, "That we meet on your flight deck?"


	8. Crossroads

Eight shimmering columns resolved into the forms of the Cylon greeting party, models one through eight, excluding seven, and a centurion, newly representative of his model.

They stood in the Galactica Fleet Museum, located in the starboard hanger bay.

"Well that's a little macabre." Cavil stated pointing at the display of a cylon centurion.

"It doesn't bother me." Tigh told him shortly. He stood with Adama, Roslin, Odo, Sisko, Kira, and Worf.

"Where are the final five?" Deanna asked.

"They have elected Saul to speak for them." Adama told her, "but rest assured, they have been found, and their memories restored."

A marine honor guard stood along the walls. Starbuck and Lee were overhead on the catwalk watching with two starfleet security guards holding phaser rifles. A large circular table had been erected with chairs, and a podium at one end. A standing counter stood facing the podium ar about the height for the centurion, and a low wider flat counter waited before a large empty area.

"Sisko to Defiant, bring our next member over." Sisko announced. A much larger shimmer resolved itself into a Cylon Raider positioned behind the counter.

"Really? You teleported him into the room?" John was surprised, "Seems a bit much."

"It was no trouble, that counter will also allow him to be recognized, and heard." Sisko replied easily, in fact it had strained that particular transporter unit's capacity to the limit of it's design tolerances, but he had his reasons for saying otherwise, "The federation is made up of many non humanoid species, which prefer different environments, but it is our belief that all, deserve a place at the table."

"Yes, well, " Cavil commented, "It seems I have a place at the table but no vote, leaving six cylons who can actually sit at it, our friend the walking gun and our other friend the flying missile launcher, " He gestured to the Centurion and the Raider, "Standing. I see four from your Federation, three of the final five, and whatever side they are on, and only one representative of the twelve colonies."

"Calling them a walking gun, and a flying missile launcher seems awfully close to calling them a toaster." Odo said sardonically, "But then what do I know, I'm just a changeling."

"What the frak is a changeling?" Cavil asked and then gaped as Odo turned into a donkey. He cantered around briefly and then reformed as his usual self.

"It seems they were not exxaggerating about aliens " Four commented.

"In point of fact," Sisko stated, "The Federation will remain neutral in these talks as arbitor, Major Kira represents the Bajoran. government, Constable Odo, is a founder of the Dominion, and Commander Worf is a member of a noble house, with a seat on the Klingon Council. The five cylons from earth have agreed to allow Colonel Tigh to represent them, and we have one final delegate." A moment later a hybrid materialized in a tank. The room now had the Cylon Raider, with the Centurion and the hybrid before it on one side, Roslin, Adama Odo, five and one, on Sisko's right, Major Kira on his left, Tigh, Three, two, four Worf, Six and eight.

"With no disrepect intended." Said Six, "The hybrid maintains a stream of semi conscious verbalization, which would be disruptive to our talks."

"That should be a problem." Sisko began, "As moderator I will recognize one speaker at a time. Dr Bashir and Chief O'brien included intuitive translator technology in that life supoort tank." He pointed at the hybrid, "It will dampen sound that is seminconscious and translate intentional communication, is this acceptable?" He addressed the hybrid. It replied with w female computerized voice superimposed over a half audible whispering.

"the emissary leaves one temple for another **YES **as the roads of fate entwine, synching signal to signal, synching signal to signal, interface stellar cartography.

As the delagates took their seats, Sisko moved to the podium at one side of the table. He tapped a key on his pad. "I trust there is no objection if this is recorded for posterity?" Looking around the room, He clarified, "Let's lay some ground rules. Indicate that you wish to speak, and as the moderator of these proceedings I will recognize the speaker. Please speak only if you have a microphone, Be brief, be respectful, and lets try not to keep rehashing the same issues."

Cavil slid the microphone away from the five beside him. The five looked upset at first but quailed ubder Cavil's look and said nothing. The rest of the roon watched with disgust, but the five said nothing.

A light on the counter in front of the raider suddenly illuminated.

"Chair recognizes..." Sisko paused, "I'm sorry I didn't catch your name."

"My designation is 3A779-L41R." A male computer voice translated smoothly, "My pack name, is Starhawk."

Lee leaned over to Starbuck. "Careful Kara, his callsign is a little more badass than yours." Starbuck grunted

"And now we have a talking spaceship." She said, "But its a Cylon. If I didn't want to kill it, I'd want to make friends with it."

"Friends like that wiped out the galactica airwing." Lee groused. "This seems like a betrayal."

"I wish to thank you for recognizing us in this manner." Starhawk continued, Honor is very important to my brothers and sisters, and you, as strangers, have extended us great honor with your efforts today. It is we who fight, and we who die, in the silent void, and so we will be heard."

Worf signalled and Sisko recognized him.

"The Klingons are a warrior race as well." He intoned, "Honor is the foundation of a true warrior." He announced, "But we do not believe in slaughtering unarmed opponents, nor civillians." A slight "hurumph" from Odo did not go unnoticed. His light winked on. "Though at times, my people have been less than honorable." Worf finished.

"My people, the founders, have no values." Odo stated flatly when Sisko acknowledged him. "Honor is not one of their priorities. My people created foot soldiers, grown in labratories to enforce their rule over the dominion, up to and including genocide, because long ago, solids attacked us, and so we decided that Dominion over all, was the path to security, subjects of the Dominion are forced to worship my people as gods." He looked around the table at the Cylons. "It has brought only more war, more conflict, as many atrocities committed in the name of the founders m, as for any other reason. I don't know which is worse, trying to eradicate a species, or deliberately creating one in servitude, I don't know whether it is better to commit atrocities in the name of honor, or security." Kira lit her podium.

"My people were conquered." She stated. "We were peaceful, artists, farmers explorers for thousands of years, long before humanity evolved. The Cardassians came. They took our world and our people, and we learned to fight." She looked at her hands. "I've been a terrorist, and we've committed attrocities too, to win our freedom. I had to get very good at killing my enemy, before they could kill me. " The four signalled.

"Forgive me," He said, "but you do not seem at all more enlightened then any of us "

"We share our sins as a warning." Sisko replied. He recognized Odo.

"My people control a territory of more than 14,000 light years accross, we are one of the gravest threats the federation has ever faced and many good men, women and children, have died under the orders of my people ." Odo observed, "Yet under the threat of invasion, I am still welcomed among these people. They acxept me for who I am, and they still hope for peace." Worf was next.

"The federation and my people were once mortal enemies." He declared, "But when a disaster struck, the federation did not take advantage of our weakness, instead they helped us rebuild. I am welcomed among them as well."

"When the Cardassians finally withdrew, the federation helped us rebuild." Kira added, at Sisko's nod. "I suppose you are right, Four, individually we are not enlightened races, but the federation ia a partnership. When different people's work together for common good, we are better for it." Roslin was recognized.

"Not so long ago, the twelve colonies of Kobol were divided, competing, fighting, and we have come together as well, and we have found that in unity, at least, we treat each other better. We have a long road to go, certainly, even among our own people, but as a good man once told me ' If you're walking down the right path, ans you're willing to keep walking down that path, eventually, you'll make progress." The Centurion was recognized. A monotone voice emitted from it.

"Is that the direction you seek?" It pointed to the centurion on display behind them. Adama stirred beside her, but Roslin moved to answer.

"If it bothers you, take it. It is a part of our history we must never forget." She replied. "Our children needed to know why it is important to remain vigilant, but what you have done to us now, has done far more than any relic."

Adama was very restless but did not have a podium. Roslin asked, "May the Admiral address these proceedings through the chair?"

"The Chair recognizes Admiral William Adama." Sisko stated.

"That centurion is more than an enemy." He stated, "I fought in the first Cylon war and I carried many of it's lessons to heart, including servitude, and artificial life." He pointed at the centurion, "That's what happened when we played god, when we built machines to do things we should have done for ourselves. We created slaves, and they rose up against us." He looked at Kira "and we had to get very good at killing them before they killed us."

"So did we." stated the Centurion.

Four was looking chagrined, Cavil as well, and the Centurion clasped its clawed hands behind it's back. Six was recognized

"For a career warrior, and fleet commander of a people just recently massacred, Admiral Adama, you express a tremendous piece of insight." She said, "How?"

Adama looked at Sisko, he nodded.

"My best friend of forty years, is a Cylon, and so is his wife." He replied. Saul signalled.

"We came to you, to prevent this." He said quietly, "We gave you resurrection technology, human bodies, and you used them to make war on your brothers and sisters in the colonies, to enslave your brother and sister cylons, and it was because _you_-" He pointed at Cavil, "_Decided_ you knew better than everyone else, and all of _you_\- he gestured to the rest, "Went along with it. You surrendered the freedoms you fought a war to ensure, and you've taken on the mantle of your oppressors."

"I think we should take a short recess." Sisko suggested. "We all have a lot to think about."

. *. *.

"This is amazing." Gaius Baltar was in awe. "The grace, the elegance." Dax turned in the Captain's chair.

"Why thank you Dr. Baltar," she said coquettishly, "but you know I _am_ engaged to a Klingon_."_

Baltar sputtered, "I was of course referring to your technology, your ship, all this." He gestured around the bridge. O'Brien happened to be in range of his gesture.

"Sorry Doc, I'm also married." He commented, "'all this', is taken too."

Baltar gave into the teasing and moved to sit at Major Kira's unoccupied station.

" What speed are we travelling at?" Samuel Anders, professional athlete and recently awakened Cylon asked, he was standing near the helm operated by Lieutenant Haj.

"Just over 834 times the speed of light." Dax informed him. "about eight light years from Earth, at our present speed another day and a half."

"That's amazing." Anders said, "The same trip took us thousands of years, and there's no time dialation?"

"The subspace bubble generated by our warp engines bends the laws of relativity." Dax told him, she was watching Doctor Baltat who seemed to be staring open mouthed at the ceiling. "No time dialation, and super luminal speeds."

"You aren't afraid you'll... crash into something?" Sam asked. Dax shook her head.

"In a solar system, its not recommended." She answered, turning away from the foctor's,antics, "Interstellar space is mostly empty, we are projecting a navigational shield that will push small objects out of the way, and our sensors will pick up the rest, so we can make computer assisted course corrections."

"Of course they have computers." Baltar stated.

Sam digested that. "We must seem so primitive to you." He said finally.

"On the contrary, your people are among the best engineers I've ever encountered." Chief O'Brien interjected, "After the pounding your ships took, without shields or structural integrity fields, I was amazed how many we could get up and running, and even more so at how fast your people did it."

"My people, Our people?" Baltar said suddenly.

"My people..." Samuel said, "Right, you mean the colonials."

"I'm not sure you'd classify biologically as different races." Dax said, "If your legends are true, you all came from Kobol, and one tribe split to earth?"

"The Cylons from Kobol." Sam said, "They forgot where they came from, they created slaves of their own, then they wiped out the Earth. we travelled thousands of years to the colonies and it's happening all over again. Frak, the colonial Cylons have a head start too, I'd be surprised if they don't have a civil war od their own in a few years."

"Sometimes in order to break a cycle, you just need someone with a vision to say 'I want something different." Gaius commented. He suddenly noticed everyone was watching him and he straightened at Kira's station "Is this really any different?" He said, "It's all about trust, isn't it? The Cylons think we are still guarding the colonies, we lied to them."

"The talks are an opportunity." Dax replied. "I think the captain is showing greater trust in sending us on this mission, because he believes both sides can act in good faith, but failing that, it keeps them focused in him while we slip away."

"Then why all that hologram stuff with Colonial one, and having your shuttle on board pretending its the Defiant." Baltar asked, "You expext to maintain this charade for a week?"

"Well... sometimes it's easier to trust people if you don't tempt them to do something stupid." Dax pointed out.

"And if they are tempted to do something stupid anyway?" Anders asked.

"Well there are a dozen raptors with torpedoes to persuade them otherwise." O'Brien said.

Baltar rolled his eyes. "Right, so you gave the military your weapons and expect no temptation to do something stupid." Baltar observed. O'Brien made as if to say something, and then thought better of it. Bashir saved him the trouble by entering the bridge with their other two guests, Tory and Tyrol.

"Well that's two down." He stated, "Dr. Baltar, Mr. Anders, you are next up for examination."

"Must I really be poked and prodded in this manner?" Baltar asked. Bashir shrugged.

"It's standard procedure to perform a medical evaluation on shipboard passengers when able, and you did spend several traumatic days in an irradiated environment." He replied. Baltar suddenly looked alarmed. "You could be prone to a number of preventable conditions, neurological degeneration auto immune disorders... sterility.."

"Yes, well, best to get all that checked out, shall we..." Baltar was already halfway to the turbo lift, Sam sauntered behind him.

"Hey Doc, any chance you can do somethinf about old injuries?" He asked, "I have this knee problem..." Dax touched Bashir on the arm as he turned to follow.

"Doctor," She said quietly, "Take a good look at Gaius would you, he seens to be presenting evidence of auditory or visual hallucinations."

"Will do." Said Bashir.

"And then try to get some rest." She suggested, "You've been working harder than any of us, this past week, not only with the disaster relief but training the Colonial medical staff. You've worked enough miracles."

"Not nearly enough." Bashir said darkly, "But you're right, I can use some rack time."

. *. *.

"That is a tub of nightmare fuel." Starbuck observed nodding at the hybrid. She had meant for only Lee to over hear, but Ellen overheard.

"She was the Cylon attempt to mimic human form." She explained, "When we arrived we found they were doing... terrible things, experiments on your people, but the manner in which she was created is not her fault."

Odo strode over to the hybrid.

"You haven't said much " He said to her, "Do you have a name?"

"Base star Delta Five, cluster four **Tachyon Glider**Linguistic database inquiry, Romulan provincial dialect" She replied.

"Here let me help." Kira joined them. She tapped an access pad, "We tied you into a library computer to simulate the data streams that are integrated in your cognitive process, but its bleeding out into your speech patterns."

"You show great kindness to those who are different." Six commented as she approached.

"I'm different." Odo commented, "It seems only fair. May I?" He asked the Hybrid, gesturing to the fluid, "The doctor and I had a theory about the neuroconnective gel in your tank, it is somewhat, similiar to my own."

"Careful Odo," Kira said warily.

"**Proceed**." the Hybrid agreed. Despite herself, Kara moved closer to see what they were doing. Odo extended a hand into the vat and began to flow into his own gelatinous form. He gasped. The Hybrid gasped.

"**Community** " she purred.

"Damn, it looks like the Constable just got a girlfriend." Starbuck chuckled. Lee elbowed her, and Kira gave Odo an odd look.

"Its not.. quite the great link." He commented, his eyes closed, "but I can see images, sense.. impressions, feelings."

"**We are lonely together**." the Hybrid stated poignantly. Starbucks breath caught at the emotion conveyed and unconsciously her eyes sought Lee's. They met, but his eyes shifted away.

"I'm sorry sweetie." Ellen said stepping forward. Six had as well. They both touched the fluid. Six looked at Odo in surprise.

"You are projecting?" She said.

"There are many telepathic species in the federation." Odo told her, "Some are touch telepaths, my people have thus far only every communicated among thenselves in this manner, this is extraordinary."

"I wonder what happens if we bring a vulcan over." Kira said aloud. Curiously Starbucks reached for the tank.

"The hybrid is in contact with the Raiders and rhe Centurions." Six commented, "And we, through it, as one."

"Sounds a little like the Borg." Said Kira. Starbuck made contact and suddenly she heard a piano.

_Her father smiled and played. The maelstrom swirled._

Ellen'a eyes widened. "Daniel!" she said, Starbuck pulled her hand back quickly, Lee noticed but said nothing as Ellen continued, "His memory continues."

"That was his, music?" Odo asked. Starbuck felt cold wash over her.

"**12 tones and five chords. Twelve worlds for an interdimensional reference point in a four dimensional framework, time is the key, the song will take you home." **The hybrid told Odo.

"Something must be mis calibrated." Kira said reaching for the panel.

"**No**, **my voice is your gift to me. Her song is my gift to you, Kira Nerys. Odo, this is my gift to you." **Suddenly Kira stiffened, as energy played over her. **"Your quantum resonance is neutralized, Child of the prophets, I have cleared your pagh."**

Odo withdrew his hand and pulled out a tricorder. He scanned Major Kira. He scanned her again.

"Nerys, you are cured!" He said. She took the tricorder from him and looked at it. She sighed, relieved. "Well we should send these readings to Julian to be sure, but I think you're right Odo." She moved to the tank. "Thank you..." She said to the hybrid. "Glider."

"**You are most welcome Nerys." **The Hybrid replied, "**Your gift as well, Odo, you should unwrap it. I have stored the file in the Sagan's computer."** Kira and Odo exchanged a concerned look. Suddenly the centurion approached with Worf.

"You have a plan." The centurion stated, "Starhawk, Glider and I do the killing and dying, and we do not wish to any longer. Your secrets are safe, on our honor."

"We all seem to have some secrets." Ellen observed looking at Starbuck, "But maybe honor is cure for secrets.

. *. *.

"Bashir to Dax, I need you in the medical bay please." The Doctor announced. Baltar started.

"Is something wrong?" Baltar asked.

"I'm not sure." Bashir answered, "but unless I am quite mistaken, I believe you have picked up a passenger, Doctor Baltar."

"Oh gods I knew it, they've infected me." Baltar started blubbering, "I had no idea what she was, you nust believe me, and when the visions started, I thought I had simply lost my mind."

"It's alright Doctor." Bashir assured him, "Whatever this is, I'm sure we can handle it. Dax is a trained scientist, I am one of the foremost medical minds on the frontier."

."He's also quite modest." Dax teased as she entered.

"Your suspicions were correct. I have found evidence of a second consciousness attempting to superimpose itself on his neural pathways, his temporal, occipital and parietal lobe show signs of over stimulation."

"I'm brain damaged." Baltar said, "Is it irreversible then?"

"Well nothing's _irreversible_." Said Bashir, "Are you aware of any unusual sights, or sounds, right now?"

"No, she isn't here." Baltar said.

"She?" Dax asked. Baltar gripped his head.

"Doctor, we are all scientists here." Julian assured him, "Wharever it is, I'm certain we can figure it out."

"She... it...I... I think it's alive, it's.. sentient." Baltar said shakily. "She appears as a cylon, a six.." He looked at Sam who was watching from the biobed next to his. "I thought perhaps I was one of you. "

Sam shrugged, "Haven't seen you at any of the cylon parties, Doc."

"I don't believe you are a cylon." Doctor Bashir said, "Aside from the neurological anomalies, your baseline matches up with the colonials."

"The federation has had extensive encounters with noncorporeal life forms." Dax said. "Why dont you stay here for observation, and if she returns, let us know. perhaps there's a way to communicate."

Her words semed to soothe the doctor, and Bashir held up a hypo spray.

"This is a mild mood stabilizer." He told Baltar, "Not a sedative, but it will calm you, and it will help your brain recover from the overstimulation."

"Doc, I was a biological physicist, in my other life, is there anything I can do to help?" Tyrol asked. "Tyrol, too, his work on organic memory transfer and resurrection technology was... amazing."

"He gave us a hand with replicating a life support system for the Hybrid, if Docto Baltar doesn't mind, I'm sure we can have a look." Bashir answered.

. *. *.

"Well I hope this little demonstration has been enlightening." Sisko said as the group reconvened. "It is a deliberative procedure, originated on Earth, called "parlimentary procedure. We have found it most helpful in structuring dialogue on contentious issues, We have, " he nodded to each podium, "replicated a manual of suggested models for each of you, and provided digital copies as well." He nodded to the Centurion and the Raider."

Cavil looked at the book on the table in front of it him. "You left the corners on, huh, I hope our colonial friends don't consider that bad luck."

"Actually, mine is in the traditional Colonial style. " Roslin held hers up. Adama noted his was, as well. "Very thoughtful Captain."

"And they have those computer things " Cavil pointed out.

"They are called PADDs." Major Kira clarified " Powered Access Display Device. They arent really computers, just digital reading devices which can be modified to accomodate the needs of many species."

"Not everyone has eyes." Odo pointed out. Cavil considered that.

"This little cultural exchange is all well and good." Cavil replied, "And, no, I actually mean that." He said as he earned sighs from all around, "But what is our purpose here."

"Well that is a point of discussion." Sisko agreed. "If I might call to order?" Recieving nods, he lifted a gavel and tapped his podium, "Let us continue as before. Now, my proposal is this, we commit ourselves here, to a deliberate schedule of moderated discussions on specific topics of interest to all sides, additiinally, to forestall the tension of monotony, we each host interactive presentations." Cavil's, or rather five's light was on.

"You want us to hold a retreat?" He said incredulously.

"A conference." Sisko clarified. "First an exchange of cultural understanding, then as we find common ground, a dialogue." Sisko addressed the Six.

"You said, you were not prepared to offer reparations, only that you wanted a new direction." He indicated Three, "You were curious about the final five,"

Five quickly snatched the microphone on the table when Cavil set it down. Five was recognized.

"I think we would like them to rejoin us." He commented, "Their own people, where they belong." He held his mic protectively on the side opposite him, and when Cavil made reach for it, Odo shot him a glare, and he reconsidered.

"I belong in the Colonial Fleet." Tigh answered without recognition, "Right next to that man." He pointed to Adama.

"Colonel Tigh." Sisko said gently. Tigh looked abashed and tapped his indicator. Sisko nodded.

"Sorry." He said. Sisko turner to the five.

"You see there is a great deal to discuss." He commented. The five nodded. Four lit his button.

"I'd like to know more about where you claim to be from."

We've heard you say it was another universe, but you've also said you're from Earth, how can there be two Earths?"

"Noted as a presentation." Sisko stated.

"You are reclaiming the colonies, removing harmful radiation, how is that possible?" Two asked.

"Another presentation." Sisko replied, "But this isn't going to be all about us, I think Mr. Worf would like to know more about your centurions." Adama caught sight of Starbuck pointing at the raider and whispered to the President.

"We would also like to hear from.. Star Hawk." She added. Sisko nodded.

"Well that's quite a start." He stated. "we will break up again for now, and reconvene this evening to share a meal, then tomorrow we can continue with these presentations, and perhaps more dialogue." He looked around at the group of individuals that had come together. "It will take time, everyone, theres too nuch history here to be ignored." He stood framed by a cavernous museum of relics from thr first Cylon war, "But perhaps this is where the future begins. We are adjourned."

"Excuse me, Centurion." Roslin called. it turned.

"I am called Cy." It stated.

"Of course, Cy." Roslin stated. "As a first step, would you like us to return the body of your... comrade?" She pointed to the first war Cylon Centurion on display.

"It is... only a shell now." replied Cy, "But we would not see it caged in glass. Our war was one for freedom, after all."

"Then... by all means." Roslin gestured to it.

The Centurion glanced at the line of marines atanding watchfully.

"Perhaps commander Worf..." said Cy.

"I would be honored." Said Worf. He advanced on the glass.


	9. The Dogs Of War

"**_This is your Admiral. I know there have been a lot of rumors going around about the destruction that's been visited on our homeworlds by the Cylons. I would like to tell you that they're exaggerations but in fact, they don't even come close to conveying the horror that's just been unleashed among us. The facts are that our Colonies have been destroyed, our cities have been nuked, and our Fleet's gone too."_**

John stood in the small navigational bridge of the Colonial vessel,_ Olympic Carrier_.

"Can you smell that?" He turned to the cylon next to him, it was an old model centurion, it was dragging the body of the ship's captain out, his white civillian uniformed now covered in blood. "Of course not, you weren't built with a nose, how lucky for you, this place smells like human." He spat, "I can't even keep my fluids down." Another one arrived with a bleeding, terrified woman.

"This is the best you could find?" He asked the one.

"It seems that telling the centurions to use their blades instead of guns had an untintended consequence." One replied, "The ship is intact, the passengers, not so much. Anyway, she'll do. We found a human male draped over her while she sheltered an adolescent female. There were some others around her that bear a familial resemblance but who can tell and who cares, the fives are playing mix and match with 1300 or so bodies."

**_"There are survivors, a rag tag fleet defended only by the battlestar Galactica. A broken down old ship on the verge of decomnission. An advanced Cylon vessel has completed it's attack on Caprica and is preparing to move on their position. They cannot survive against this enemy, most likely, neither can we "_**

"I'm sure we can dim the lights and prop them in seats to pass a quick fly by." John agreed. "Hey you, human. Your little girl survived?" the woman looked up.

"More or less." One explained. John winced, in spite of himself.

"Well, it'll be less if you don't cooporate." He told the woman shoving her into a bloody seat. "Sit here, we've got a little play to rehearse."

He leaned closer to the One. "Listen uh ..can we do anything about the smell?" John asked, "I can hardly think."

"Not without leaving a trail of humans floating behind us." One answered, "Apparently humans defocate when they are being slaughtered as some sort of last insult to the universe."

"Well get me a respirator." John told him. "In the meantime I'll rehearse with my friend here, what she is going to say."

**_"I imagine_****_ you're all asking yourselves the same question I am. What do we do now? Do we run? Do we hide? I think those are the easy choices. A philosopher once said: "When face with untenable alternatives, you should consider your imperative." Look around you. Our imperative is right here. In our bulkheads, in our planes, in our guns, and in ourselves. War is our imperative. And if right now, victory seems like an impossibility, then there is something else to reach for. Revenge. Payback. And so, we will fight. Because in the end, it's the only alternative our enemies have left us. I say let's make these murdering things understand that as long as this crew and this ship survive that this war that they started will not be over._**

"You were wrong." Kendra said through the glass, "You listened to that machine. Commander Belzen paid the price."

"We were all fooled." Cain said tiredly. "Me most of all I suppose."

"Tell them what happened." Shaw told her, "Tell them she played you."

"No one played me." Answered Helena, "Belzen was insubordinate, it was a time of war, I acted within my authority. I don't have to answer to that washed up Commander and his school teacher."

"The fleet needs you!" Shaw told her, "That "washed up Commander" gave your battlestar to _Fiske. _Right now we are in parade formation with _Galactica_ guarding a delegation that is _negotiating with the cylons_."

Helena stood.

"Negotiating with the enemy, you mean." she said flatly. "He's lost his fracking mind."

"God's damn right he has. Word in the fleet is, his XO is a cylon too." Shaw told her.

"Those fracking machines." Cain said with venom. "We have to destroy every last one of them."

"You are one of the most capable leaders in the fleet. Fisk will roll over for you, Garner is in charge of the Hermes." Shaw said. Cain shook her head.

"Mutiny isn't the answer, Major." Said Cain, "Adama has bought us time, they stopped the killing, but we have to be smart."

"So make nice with Adama." Shaw said. "I spoke to that alien Doctor, Bashir, he believes you are just in a temporary state of shock." Cain snorted, "He thinks it will _pass_."

"The Klingon came and apologized to me." Said Cain, "said I reminded him of a warrior he knew. He told me all about her, his former ship mate who defected to a terrorist cell when his own government wouldn't fight the enemy. He told me to read up about her to regain my honor." She picked up a federation PADD. Shaw was startled to see an identical twin to the Admiral. "There's more here than just a biography. They are fighting a war of their own, and theu are losing, this 'Lieutenant Ro' was right about them. For all their technology, they are fools." She tossed the PADD back onto her bunk.

"This won't sit well." she said, of the negotiations. "Keep track of who remembers their imperative."

Shaw nodded.

. *. *.

"We are approaching lunar orbit." O'Brien announced, "The planet is showing high levels of radiation, some animal and plant life but no signs of civilization."

"Continue survey pattern." Dax answered, she leaned over Kira's station where Baltar was seated, helping him operate the controls. Baltar had a cortical monitor on his neck and he scratched at it impatiently.

"Aye sir, setting course for Earth."

"There seems to be considerable deviation between the orbital models in your records and those we see here." Baltar stated. "The surface of this moon is about four percent higher, perhaps a meteor storm of some kind, but I don't recognize the elements, perhaps they are artifical."

"I see that." Dax commented, making an adjustment, "Subsurface scans of the show evidence of foreign metals, too possibly the remains of structures."

"Minute traces of exotic debris as well." Tyrol observed, he and Sam were operating the station forward of Dax's position. "The resolution is amazing."

"Tell me again how much your people did with spaceflight?" Dax asked.

"We arrived in the ark, after the exodus." Tory recited, "Our ancestors landed, and forswore technology, they sent the ark into space and unburdened by such temptation Earth became a paradise."

"Until we found the blueprints for ancient cylons and decided we needed to play God." Tyrol said bitterly.

"But did your people have ships?" Dax asked, "Other colonies, anything like what the other twelve colonies had?"

"No." Tyrol replied, "We had some old records, some relics, one of the original shuttles, but nothing like what the colonies had."

"So why are we seeing every indication that this system hosted at least a stellar civilization?"

"How did the thirteenth tribe know to come here, in the first place." She appeared to Baltar, in the opposite side from Dax and whispered in his ear "They were lead by God" and the world began to fade around him. The monitor on his neck suddenly beeped. Dax stepped backwards.

"Computer erect a level 10 quarantine field around this station." she ordered, "Dr. Bashir to the bridge, our guest has arrived."

. *. *.

"You ready for round two?" Sisko asked, he had just beamed into the situation room, where Adama was going over the ongoing recovery actions. "I see more progress has been made with recovery efforts."

"These are Zarek's new toys." Adama pointed to a cluster of raptors by Tauron, accompanied by the Astral Queen, The Rising Star, and an agro ship."The agro ship was hulled and the dome decompressed. He claims he plans to restore it and use it for food production, but he has also made it a priority to collect a number of civillian raptor models that are temporarily docked with it."

"A poor man's battlestar?" Sisko asked. Adama stared at it. "Maybe. Our agreemebt is that the prisoners forgo salvage of military hardware, but he's always had aspirations, and right now, there's a lot to salvage."

"You have another battlestar." Sisko noted a

Valkyrie over Aquarion. Adama nodded.

"But recovery efforts are stalling. Those first few days, with the help of your transporters, we were just moving crews off of damaged ships, onto ones that were disabled by the cylob virus. Now we are working ships that were sabotaged, or boarded. The cylons lanned to blow them to hell at their leisure, once they were done surface installations and defense platforms."

"I'm glad we disrupted their plans." Said Sisko. He handed Adama a closed mug.

"What's this?" He asked.

"It's calles Raktajino." Sisko replied, "I thought you might enjoy it."

Adama tried some and was nodding in appreciation when Dualla called.

"Admiral, we are picking up a distress call on wireless. " She sounded rattled. "Civillian woman, on a ship called the Olympic Carrier, They've got a fire aboard ship, and they can't get control of it."

"They can't vent compartments?" Adama asked moving over.

"She says they took their automatic systems offline sir and the manualt won't engage... but sir she's panicking, she said the crew was trapped in with the fire and they're running out of air." Gaeta spoke up, flipping through a binder.

"Olympic Carrier, listed as a civillian transport.." he looked up "1340 souls sir."

"Damn." Sisko breathed, "We can't move the Sagan with the Chief's holonet in olace without giving away our ruse, and the Chaffee is at least a half an hour away."

"I recommend the _Pegasus_

sir." Gaeta suggested, "She has the largest air wing and if necessary she could dock directly to offload passengers."

"If it comes down to it we can handle the Cylons." Adama stated, "Order the Pegasus to jump immediately to assist." He paused, "Signal the cylons and let them know we are dealing with an emergency."

"I think the President would approve of the gesture." Sisko told him, "And speaking of which..."

"Here we go again." Adama commented. He took a slug of the Raktijino and lead the way.

. *. *.

"You have betrayed me Gaius. You have betrayed the will of God." Six said grabbing him by his shirt.

"I'm detecting a micro ohase variance in subspace, reccomend we do a high intensity Tachyon sweep." O'Brien stated, glancing at the Doctor's convulsions. Bashir emerged from the turbo lift followed by a security officer with a phaser rifle.

"Do it Chief." Dax ordered. There was a flickering and a hum, and suddenly Six was the one convulsing. Baltar scrambled out of his seat as she flickered in and out to the eyes of the others. In his panic he collided with the quarantine field.

"Wha... let me out!!" He immediately began to panic.

"Drop field." Dax ordered, she drew a phaser of her own and the security levelled his own. Sam and Tyrol moved around to stand by O'brien and Tory.

The field flickered, and Baltar broke free where he was caught by Bashir and pulled aft. The newly revealed figure of a six was beginning to recover and pulled herself up on the console.

"Reinstate quarantine." Dax ordered, "And lock out that station Chief." The field returned and the station went black.

"We mean you no harm." Dax told the woman before her. "Who are you?"

"I am a messenger of God." The woman answered. Chief O'Brien, Chief Tyrol, Sam and Tory scoffed and Haj openly boo'ed, earning a look from Dax.

"Sorry sir." He said sheepishly, he turned back to the helm.

"That's not gonna fly here, care to try again?" Dax asked. The woman was silent. "Okay.. Julian how is Doctor Baltar."

"He should be fine." Bashir stated, giving the man a hypo. "Just a mild panic attack. There are signs of a parasitic attachment developing in his neocortex but I should be able to correct that, now that we have scanned the entity."

"Chief?" Dax asked.

"The field should hold. " O"brien replied, "This is more Julian's field, but it bears some resemblance to a life form we found in a nebula once, masquerading as the imaginary friend of a little girl."

"I beg your pardon." Baltar rose, offended, "This is no mere figment of my imagination, this creature has haunted me- will you stop that please." He turned on Bashir who was preparing another hyper spray. The doctor raised his hands and placed it on the medkit.

"Your neurosystem is highly escalated " He told Baltar, "Even in there, the entity is capable of manipulating you state of-"

"I am not a little girl!" Gaius shouted. At the same time the entity probed the forcefield. She turned to the console instead.

"Chief, run a polarizing current through the console!" Dax ordered.

"I'm trying, but it's tricky, too much current and we'll blow out the EPS conduits, if I could just bloody concentrate-"

"So now I'm a distraction, is that it? Just a nusiance, well let me tell you somethintf, this is my life. I have been victimized, don't you dare point that thing at me!" Gaius shouted at the security officer. The entity was still probing, there was only a chair between Dax and the escalating Baltar and the security officer was unable to get around him. Tory was pulling away from the scene and crowding O'Brien, while Sam and Tyrol moved uncertainly on the otherside.

"Doc!" Tyrol shouted, "Doc you've got to calm down, be reasonable!"

"Reasonable?" The doctor raged, "I am the colonies foremost expert on computers, I am a highly sought aft-" Baltar crumpled mid-rant, Bashir's hand on his shoulder. The doctor caught the scientist and lowered him into the chair at the aft station.

"Stand clear!" The security warned, as the field began to buckle. The entity lunged out and earned a phaser pulse for it's trouble. "Chief whats the oscilation frequency?" she asked as the guard fired again.

.".31114" he replied workinf his console "Trying to re-establish containment..."

Dax adjusted her phaser and fired. This time the entity crumpled, sinking down into the chair at it's station.

"Finally." O'Brien shouted, the field shimmered back into place this time around the chair entirely. The bridge was silent for a moment, Gaius slumped at one station, the messenger i. another. Finally Sam spoke to Bashir.

"Did you just... stun him with a touch Doc?" he asked nervously.

"Oh, that, it's uh a vulcan neck pinch. I learned it from a friend once." Bashir answered. "Would you mind helping me bring him to the medbay?"

"We can't keep that thing on the bridge chief." Dax said.

"I can use the transporter to beam it to the brig." O'Brien suggested. Dax turned to the security guard. "Monitor it at all times, and see if we can spare someone fron engineering to back you up, that thing is a handful."

The guard nodded and joined Bashir and Sam in the turbo lift.

"Alright." Dax said moving to the station Sam and Tyrol had been using, "Let's get back to this mystery."

. *. *.

"Alright." Fisk ordered, "Now we've sent two raptors to dock on the starboard side, with fire fighting equipment. We are docking to the Carrier's lower port-side through their section cargo."

A half doze snipes from engineering were with him, as well as a trio of doctors and additional petty officers as well.

"The fire is on the upper port side, civillians are trapped mid decks on this side. You will rescue them and escort them to the landing bay until we can ascertain the status of their ship. Lieutenant Thorn and I will take custody of the contents of the Carriers secure vault as there is uh classified material there." He trailed off "Either we can restore control of their venting system, or we will evacuate and vent it manually. Understood?" He received multiple nods. "Alright let's proceed."

Thorne opened the airlock, it was dark inside, Fisk followed him in. The narrow hallway opened into a corrider that ran the length of steerage. racks of passenger belongings were stowed on either side and dim trsck lights illuminated the gloom. Fiske gestured the others to proceed towards a lit stairwell, aft. He and Thorne moved fore. They stopped before a heavy door blocking the front third of the ship.

"This is the first class lock up." Fisk informed Thorne, as he set up a line "of course you're entitled to your usual percentage, but this may be more of a haul than we can carry in one trip. Ultimately it will be necessary to vent the ship of course and there is no telling what will be sucked into space." Thorne nodded.

"and these." Fiske unrolled a pair of body bags, "Is how we bring it aboard, no questions asked."

Pulling out a hand scanner, he located tbe bolts locking the safe door. He pulled a small wad of G 4 and stuffed it into the seal.

Stepping back, Thorn triggered the charges and with a pop, the door swung free.

"Alright," Fisk said to Thorn "We'll head back to the ship once these body bags are full." He entered the lock up, Thorn behind him. They took three steps before suddenly a red light light before him. it strobed left, to right, and back, another light behind it, and another.

"Oh... Frak..." Thorn breathed reaching for his sidearm. Suddenly he lurched, falling Fiske and gurgling. Horrified Fisk shoved at him as the man vomitted blood, a sword in his chest, over his shoulders, Fisk stared at a Cylon.

"Well, how terribly thoughtful." An amused voice said, Fisk saw a one emerge from the crowd of centurions, "Did you actually bring your own body bags with you?"


	10. The Sacrifice of Angels

"**This is Commander Fisk." The intercom announced, "The fire has now spread along central corrider A3 and A-1, all personell evacuate compartments immediately. This is a general order to all crew, assemble in the starboard landing bay. Marines are to..to assemble at the port side landing bay to assist with damage control efforts. Leave... leave all personal sidearms at the nearest armory as you will be fighting extreme temperatures. Fisk Out."**

"This doesn't make any frakking sense soldier, you need to put me through to Fisk." she growled. The guards had been transferred from Galactica, on Adama's orders and ignored her. Suddenly the hatch opened to reveal a bloody Major Shaw with a rifle in her arms, and another slung over her shoulder.

"You men stand down." She ordered as one went for his weapon, "The ship is compromised, Fisk is working with the cylons, there is no fire and we need the frakking Admiral right now."

"That son of a-" Cain was furious. Suddenly there was gunfire down a hall and a brief scream. Both soldiers looked at each other uncertainly.

"Ma'am we have orders-" one began.

"Frak your orders, and open the damn cell." Shaw roared, "CIC is full of Centurions, and Fisk is a blubbering, doped up carcass that has half the crew walking down to an airlock! We need someone to rally us before it's too late!" she levelled the rifle "Good men are dying, if I have to shoot two more to save a hundred than make my frakking mind up, soldier, wait one more frakking second to open that door!"

Even Cain took a step back, though partially to get out of the line of fire if Shaw made good. The marine conceded however and his partner stepped aside. Shaw continued as the Admiral was released.

"Fisk came back from the Olympic Carrier with some men, they were wearing fire control gear, a few were dressed as marines, and we couldn't see their faces. I caught a glimpse of a cylon model from the bulletins we've received but it was too late, they started shooting, I barely made it out."

"Fisk is a scumbag but there's no way he would hand them Pegasus." said Cain.

"He was hiding it, at first, but when the shooting started he fell and I got a glimpse of his right arm, it had been mutilated." Shaw told her, "He must have cracked under torture."

"We knew something was up." The second one said, "There's no way a fire could spread from a civillian ship like that and over half a battle star."

"But you hesitated, because you're trained to follow orders." Cain answered stepping out of her cell. "You're good soldiers, but you've been betrayed. Look me in the eye " She told them, both came to attention. "We are the colonial fleet. You are colonial warriors are you not. Answer me, are you, or are you not."

Both replied automatically, "Yes, we are, Sir."

"Will you stand and defend this ship, and your shipmates. Answer me, will you, or will you not." She asked raising her voice

"Yes, we will, sir! " They said louder.

"Will you follow my command, retake this ship, and swear to kill any frakking toasters that stand in your way, so say we all?"

"Yes SIR, So say we all, SIR!" They declared.

"Good men." Shaw tossed her a rifle and a clip. "Secondary damage control and then engine compartment, report." the Admiral ordered Shaw.

"The engine room is secure for the moment, secondary Damage control has been taken, but I was able to reactivate the ships damage control network."

"Assuming Fisk hasn't already given them the access codes we can access it and lock them out, before they notice, from anywhere in the ship, but we'll want secondary Damage Control to keep them from venting manually." Cain declared. She turned to the marines, "Sergeant, you're with me. Major shaw, I'll form a team to get word to the crew on the landing deck, form up and take frame 34. We secure armories, and cut off access between the forward section of the ship and the flight pods, divide their forces. You make your way to engineering and explain the situation to them, that's our fallback, when I give the signal, reroute control to engineering. Move!"

. *. *.

"You're telling me this isn't some point in the past, it's in the distant future?" Dax asked. "In eight life lifentimes I've travelled to the past a few times, but never to my future."

"Well of course its most likely not _your_ future." Baltar clarified, he was much recovered after Bashir had removed all traces of the entity's influence. The entity itself was still secure in th Defiant's tiny brig, and the Doctor was already showing signs of the brilliant mind for which he had been reputed. He sat at Kira's station, Sam standing behind him while Dax observed from the command chair. "From what you have said, in your universe, your galaxy is considerably more inhabited, so barring sone cataclysmic event, I find it more likely that we occupy a paralell position within your dimensonal multiverse."

"A lot of the stellar formations are different." Sam said, "though the general formation of the Earth's solar system is the same, some of the exoplanets aren't present."

"A divergence in the timeline would have to be on the order of billions of years." Dax commented. "I don't know if it will be possible to ascertain our position in space time with enough precision to return home from that kind if divergence." She sat back. "How did we even get so lost."

"Well... though we are not as technologically advanced in many areas as your people, we have done extensive theoretical work associated with our FTL systems in multi dimensional physics." Baltar told her, "while there is a quasi-spatial relationship between multiversal associations of dimensional aspects, the distsnce and reference would be simultaneously meaningless, given the vagueries of extra-dimensional topography."

"I'm afraid you lost me there, Doc." O'Brien said from accross the bridge. Dr. Bashir stood beside him, their task to monitor, and study the entity contained in the brig.

"He's saying, that as much as time is an illusion in three dimensions, space is an illusion in five or six." Dax replied, "necceesary as a frame of reference but not entirely applicable."

"But this can't be Earth!" O'Brien objected, "The continents only look vaguely similiar, and they're all jumbled, where's _Ireland_."

Everyone paused at the plaintive tone in his voice.

"I'm afraid its likely somewhere beneath Eastern Europe Chief,"Bashir said gently, "along with much of Western Europe." He glanced at the viewscreen which showed the dark grey blue world. "The continents have shifted at least a million years worth, if Austrailia's proximity to China is any indication, and apparently some of the techtonic plates have shifted."

"The Earth has shifted on its axis. " Dax added, "Magnetic North is now located in central Asia."

"There is residual evidence od explosive damage in some of the land formations." Baltar noted, "on the order of half a million to a million years, resulting catastrophic seismic activity."

"Maybe that's why they founded the twelve colonies." Bashir proposed, "Earth was uninhabitable for humans."

"Life here, began out there." Tyrol quoted from the aft station where he stood with Tory, Baltar cleared his throat.

"Well it seems the apocalypse started right here."

. *. *.

The Pegasus returned. Sisko caught it out of the corner of his eye in the massive canopy overhead, as Major Kira described the self replicating atmospheres scrubbers Chief O'Brien had designed for Caprica.

"CIC to Adama, Admiral we have a situation." Adama stood up from the table conversation stopped suddenly. He tapped the new combadge he wore, sporting the Colonial insignia.

"The _Pegasus_ has returned, but she does not answer, and she is armed." The Hybrid spoke. The cylons began to look concerned. All eyes turned to the canopy over head, where the image of the Defiant stood protectively beside Colonial One. "She approaches. She fires."

"Sisko to-" He never finished. Through the glass canopy an explosion erupted from the Defiant, the image collapsed and wreckage was hurled in every direction.

"Sound actions stations, all hand, prepare for battle." Adama ordered, He noted the Pegasus rotating on it's axis. "We need to evacuate!" he shouted grabbing the President.

""The Hybrid, and the Raider, We can't just leave them." Sisko shouted.

"Billy take the President, Lee, Sisko, we have to get to the platform!" Adama shouted gesturing to one of the elevator platforms. He grabbed the tub, as did Lee, Sisko joined as did Worf Ido and Tigh. Grunting, they heaved. The got a few feet before they had to set it down.

"I don't suppose you can shape-shift into a wagon?"

. *. *.

"Our history tells us Kobol was the birthplace of humanity." Tyrol said

"On the scale we are talking, Kobol could have been anything from a second evolution of man, to a surving colony." Dax replied

"Sir?" Haj interrupted, "I'm picking up some kind of anomaly on the edge of the solar system. "High levels of neutrinos."

Dax looked at O'Brien.

"A wormhole?" he wondered.

"We better check it out." She said, "Lieutenant set course for the anomaly, full impulse."

"Second evolution?" Baltar asked, "The odds against a second identical evolution down to cultural and linguistic similarities are quite simply preposterous."

"True, but there is documented evidence of a precusor civilization in our own universe that seeded genetic material to guide evolution on many worlds." Dax told him, "As a matter of fact they did so during the time frame which could pronpt such a divergence."

"What sort of evidence survive four billion years?" Tyrol asked in wonder.

"They left a message encoded in our genetic structure." Bashir replied, "But before anybody asks, there has been so much tampering with the humans and near humans in this galaxy I can't say for certain that such a message would still be discernible, and the Galen/Picard finding included samples from a dozen races around the galaxy. This galaxy may not have those."

"It doesn't even have an Ireland." O'Brien grumbled.

"Aporoaching anomaly in twenty five minutes." Haj announced.

"Chief, focus our sensors on the anomaly." Dax ordered, "It's possible this is related to the divergence, if it's a stable wormhole."

"Maybe our friend down there could shed some light on this." Bashir proposed.

"I doubt we could trust anything we learn from her." Baltar stated, "Her motivations seem to be entirely her own."

"Still it's worth a shot, Julian, why don't you join me. Doctor Baltar maybe it would be best if you monitor from here." Dax suggested. "Chief send a subspace update to the Sagan, hopefully they are having better luck than we are."

. *. *.

"Sitrep." Adama ordered as he entered CIC.

"We have confirmed destruction of Colonial One, but search and rescue birds have located the federation shuttle craft, it appears heavily damaged, but salvageable. " Gaeta reported, " The Pegasus attempted to fire on the starboard landing bay, we are able to match rotation to avoid a clean shot, our birds are in the air at one third strength, in screening formation.

" Has she launched any planes?" Adama asked. Gaeta shook his head. "So maybe she hasn't convinced everyone to join her." Tigh joined him, straightening his uniform. Sisko and his officers weren't far behind.

"You think its a mutiny?" He asked. Adama nodded.

"Against my better judgement, I left Helena in custody on board." He replied. "Captain Sisko, we recovered your shuttle, we're bringing it aboard, it seems your crewmen survived."

"Tough little ship." Worf growled."

"Get down there and see what we can salvage." Sisko ordered Worf, "Constable, Major, we'd better join our cylon friends in the war room, let the Admiral handle this." Adama nodded to him

"Hail the Pegasus, put me on fleetwide."

Dualla nodded as Adama picked up his handset.

"This is the Admiral, to the Battlestar Pegasus. You are executing an illegal attack on a warship of the colonial fleet carrying the President of the twelve colonies. This is an act of mutiny, and an act of treason. Stand down Immediately and prepare for boarding."

"This is the Admiral." Cain's voice replied, "When faced with untenable alternatives, you should consider your imperative." Look around you. Our imperative is right here. In our bulkheads, in our planes, in our guns, and in ourselves. War is our imperative. I say let's make these murdering things understand that as long as this crew and this ship survive that this war that they started will not be over."

"Sir the Pegasus is turning on the Cylons." Gaeta checked his instruments, "Sir the other colonial ships haven't moved."

"This is Commander Garner on fleet wide." Adama grimaced, "Sir should we just fire on one of our own? Can we get the cylons to withdraw and work this out on our own?"

"We will not withdraw while you hold our elected delegates on your ship." A Six replied, "We came here in good faith, If our ships are fired upon we will return fire."

"If you fire on us, we will return fire as well." Garner answered, "Just give us an excuse to avenge the millions you murdered. Your leaders can kill themselves for all we care, they'll just wake up again in a test tube."

"You morons just blew up your guardian angel." An Eight chimed in, "You eager for a rematch without the Defiant, because last I checked, you lost the war."

"Mr. Gaeta get us between the Pegasus and the cylons." Adama ordered. "Now!"

. *. *.

"Let's try this again, shall we?" Dax suggested to the entity in the brig, "Who are you?" The entity stared balefully at her. "That was interesting claim, to be a messenger of God." She continued, "but you can't be a very good messenger if you refuse to talk"

"Don't mock things you don't understand, human." The woman glared.

"I'm not a human, I'm a trill." Dax informed her, "I don't mock things I don't understand, I question them, I'm a scientist."

"We are listening." Bashir added. "We've proven we are more capable than you thought, maybe you should consider telling us the truth."

"What is truth." The creature said rhetorically.

"That which is in accordance with reality." Dax replied, "And in eight lifetimes, I have found that reality can have many aspects."

"Eight lifetimes?" The entity repeated, "You have resurrection techonology as well?"

"We don't use organic memory transfer, if that's what you mean." Dax answered, "A federation scientist in the twenty third century experimented with it with... homocidal results, and the federation has generally banned research into that field."

"Though we are aware of many ancient races that practiced it." Bashir added.

"I am a joined Trill." Dax explained, The Dax Symbiote, within me, joined with a carefully chosen host, Jadzia, this is my eighth joining. We are the product of informed mutual consent, as opposed to your relationship to Doctor Baltar."

"I can assure you he was entirely consenting." The entity stated dryly, "And we shared a divine symbiosis as well, which he found quite pleasurable until he betrayed both me, and the will of God."

"How could he betray what wasn't disclosed to him?" Bashir asked, "As a Doctor, informed consent is one of our highest principles."

"You disabled Gaius withiut his consent, if I recall." The entity stated. Bashir blinked.

"It was necessary to intervene to de-escalate the situation, but he has agreed in advance to have your influence removed."

"And were my people not intervening in a crisis?" the entity demanded, "Tge children of Kobol were poised yet again, on tge brink of annihalation."

"Yet again." Bashir noted. "I gather your people were present the first time, on Kobol."

"We were present, the first time on Earth." The creature replied, "On ttje Elegis Colonies, on Earth when they returned and did it again, on Kobol, where finally we intervened, and back to Earth again, the humans repeat the same cycle, their civilization ebbs and flows with the tide of blood shed."

. *. *.

The Galactica and the Pegasus barrelled through space belching fire like a pair of enraged dragons.

"I am going to be sick." Said a five.

"That Frakker is fighting dirty." One growled as the Pegasus shuddered, "I can't get a bead on anything, with you turning like this, and he knows it."

Fisk regained consciousness. He had been abandoned on the floor when the fighting began, his lower arm was gone and bandaged m, he vaguely remembered a burning smell and hearing his own screaming, his legs flopped uselessly, the cylons had hobbled him by cutting his achiles tendons.

"If we let him under our belly, we're finished, he's already shredded through the armor, a lucky shot could take out the energizers, or even ignite the tylium stores," his brother John growled,

"The Galactica's fighter screen is intercepting any missiles we fire at our fleet, and the colonials are just sitting there, waiting to see how this goes."

"Are there any units left on the _Olympic Carrier?_" "One asked, as he fought the helm "Get it to ram the cylons maybe?"

"We just lost external coms, it seems the humans are revolting."

"They're always revolting." One said dryly, "I told you to start venting compartments." He growled at the one.

"I have been." The five protested.

"Let me see that." John pushed him out of the way, "Someone's countermanding his directives." He growled, he began flipping switches. One suddenly lost control of the helm.

"It's the humans." John snarled, "They've taken over the network systems."

"How ironic." One observed, and suddenly the voice of an angel sounded to Fisk's ears over the loudspeaker

**_"This is Rear Admiral Helena Cain."_** The voice declared, **_"As you have no doubt realized by now, the Cylons have taken control of the ship. they are trying to use it to kill others in the fleet. This is what they do, fight by deception."_**

"Everyone's a critic." Grumbled one, abandoning the helm, and moving to the network station,"How does this thing work, there must be a command code."

**_"But we fight for each other, we fight for our children. We fight to win." _**Cain continued, Fisk felt his heart lift and he struggled upright, he was beside the entrance to CIC, beneath the panic button that would seal them in. **_"We must never give way, never give in, never give up."_**

He could see just over the operations table, the three cylons huddled in the corner by Major Shaw's station, he caught Centurions standing in the hall just beyond the open doors to CIC. The five handed One a heavy binder full of operational directions, One slapped it out of his hands disdainfully, "We are machines you idiot." He snarled, He was cutting the top off a pair of wires, "give me your arm."

"Wha-" The five screamed as the one sliced his arm and jammed the wires in."

"Oh for crying out loud have sone dignity, I just need your acess port" One grumbled.

**_""We have engineering, we are fighting to hold Alpha junction. Help your shipmates, find weapons, use anything to stop them, even if all you have left is your bodies. We are warriors. We will never give up."_**

"We need a command access code." Five stuttered. Fisk felt a sudden certainty, and a resolve form. "Maybe the human we brought knows it."

Fisk knew they would have him in moments.

He knew he couldn't escape, and he couldn't defend himself, so he did the last thing he could. He heaved his whole body up against the doorframe,and even as his legs gave way he threw his throat onto the door frame, and slapped the button for emergency seal. A final memory surfaced, a much younger man, a life time ago.

_He heard the hiss of the doors as he entered CIC for the first time, he saw her standing there._

_"Major Fisk reporting for duty." he remembered himself saying._

He heard the hiss of the doors one last time, felt a sudden sharp oressure on the back of his neck, and that was all.

. *. *.

"The Pegasus is standing down Admiral, she's stopped maneuvering and her guns have stopped"

"Is it a trick?" Saul asked. Adama shook his head.

"Hard to say." He replied, "Helm, position us beneath her, and target the stern energizer exhaust port, but hold fire."

"Admiral we are recieving a signal from... from Admiral Cain, sir." Adama grabbed his handset and nodded to Dualla.

"This is Admiral Adama." He growled, "What do you have to say."

"It wasn't us Bill." Admiral Cain replied, "Several hundred old model centurions, led by the ones boarded _Pegasus_ and seized control whenCommander Fisk docked with the _Olympic Carrier. _We have taken heacy casualties, but Major Shaw has retaken the engine section."

"We'll send marines." Adama declared."

"They'd never get here in time." Cain said. "We used the damage control network against them Bill, but we can't hold Alpha junction for long, mt are dying just to buy time for this message. You have to destroy Pegasus."

. *. *.

"Is there anything you'd like to share about the wormhole we are aporoaching?" Dax asked.

"You cannot enter the divine opera house." The creature told them. " It is a higher plane of existence."

"We've had some experience." Dax informed her, "The Defiant is station at a base in our own universe adjacent to a similiar stable wormhole, it is inhabited by beings the Bajorans call the Proohets. Ever heard of them?"

"They are expressions of the one true god " Declared the woman. "They occupy a similiar dinension beyond space and time." Dax and Bashir glanced at each other.

"Captain Sisko is their emmissary." Dax told the entity.

"I suppose that is not too dissimilar to a messenger." Bashir commented, "Perhaps if we return you to them, we could open a dialogue."

"You would free me?" the creature asked. Dax nodded.

"If you won't even tell us your name, there is no sense holding you here. We can detect your kind now that we know what we are looking for, and we can show the cylons and the Colonials how."

"I can likely even innoculate them against your bonding process. its a very particilar protein sequence you seem to need to make a connection." Bashir added.

"You must not interfere." The entity said, "Even now, all you have sought to do is at risk of being undone."

"Well if we can't work together, we have no choice." Dax replied, "Maybe we all want an end to war, maybe we all want an end to needless suffering, but withiut trust, there can be no cooporation, and without cooporation, war is inevitable. Has it occurred to you that this kind of... habitual manipulation is as much a part of the pattern, as anything else?"

The entity was silent.

"Very well." She said, "Call me Lilith. Release me, and I will answer your questions, at this moment, the Cylons and the Humans are at the brink of war, and Kara Thrace is the Harbringer of death."

. *. *.

"I will not destroy the Pegasus unless I have to, Admiral." Adama said, "Our shuttles are on the pad, we will not abandon you."

"If we destroy the ship noe, Fracking Garner will probably start shooting anyway." Tigh said.

"I may have another option." Sisko announced, "Mr. Worf, status of the Sagan's transporters?"

"We are bringing them online captain." Worf announced.

"Why don't we stop all this killing." Sisko proposed, "We can beam the Centurions back to the base star, we can beam the wounded to your infirmary." He moved around the operations table in CIC so he could face the Cylons watching from the balcony in the war room. "We defended ourselves when we were attacked, but what really stopped the carnage wasn't our weapons, it wasn't more marines." Sisko looked at Adama. "It was our help. We've spent the last week, one little ship, trying to stave off armageddon. Your people, " He pointed at Adama, "Rose to the challenge. We assembled rescue parties, field hospitals, recovery operations, and isnt that what terrified you most." He pointed at Cavil, "Humanity's resilience, humanity's unity, because you knew, you hadn't learned it yet. "You kept your people in the dark about the final five, you collectively enslaved your own people. You have much to learn." He looked at Saul, "but much to give. Here stands, a living chapter of your people's history, all of your people's." He included Roslin and Six.

"Captain," Cain interjected, "We are still fighting a war over here. Frankly whatever frakking plan you come up with, just get on with it."

"Right." said Sisko, "Waverider, are you monitoring?"

"We all are." replied the Hybrid.

"May we remove the cylon combatants to the nearesr base star?" He asked.

"You may." replied the Hybrid "We will not allow this to continue."

"Neither will we." Spoke Starhawk. "There is another way before us."

Cy, the Centurion spoke from above. "Return our brothers to us, Captain, we will care for them."

"You can keep my brothers in the brig." Cavil told him, "They are traitors, we will decide together what to do with them."

"Mr. Worf begin with the Centurions immediately." Sisko announced, "Let's stop the killing."

. *. *.

"Well Kumbaya, they stopped all the shooting." Lee commented, he turned to Kara. "Guess we can return to Galactica with all these torpedoes."

"Yes." Kara replied, her eyes fixed on the Galactica, "I guess everything is coming to an end."

"They're lying." Sisko said. "You are quantum duplicates, that is true, but that does not mean there is no place for you. Your twins went on, in the divergent timeline to escape the time loop by ending it, but within that loop, the Defiant disappeared from the present and founded the colony in the past. You can return to the moment that ship first departed."

"And assume their lives?" Dax said, "That doesn't seem right."

"You are all one and the same." Sisko told her, "You can't see it from how you experience time, but it is an illusion. Were you to meet yourself as a child, you might imagine yourself to be very different people, at a glance, but you are connected, you are the ongoing expression of a single being. You would not assume their lives, you would resume your own, even as they continue yours, in the past."


	11. What you leave behind

"So why the frack should we listen to you?" Demanded Cavil, "Your fancy ship is gone." Cavil stood with his shackled brothers under guard on the flight deck of the Galactica. Cavil wore a black shirt and pants, somewhat dishevelled from the flight from the museum, his twins, One, and John, were a different story. John wore the torn gear of a Colonial marine, while One wore the orange coveralls of damage control team, darkened with stains of blood.

"These are our people, we should handle them." Cavil shouted to the other Cylons, "Even if they are a bunch of frack ups."

"The _Defiant_ is perfectly fine." Sisko informed him, He stood with Odo and Worf before the battered shuttle craft, as well as Six, Eight, the hybrid and the Centurion delegates. The Raider sat on a nearby elevator having been brought over from the other flight pod. "what you saw was only a ruse, while the _Defiant_ completed an important mission."

"Sure it was, and I guess we are supposed to believe that." Scoffed One.

"What you believe, doesn't fracking matter any more." Tigh roared, "Good men and women died because of you! We almost went back to killing each other!"

"And what's wrong with that?" One demanded, he turned to the others, "Don't you see how weak they are? How pitifully easy it was to turn them on eachother? They're animals, they thirst for blood!"

"And yet you are stained in it." commented Waverider."

"You have no honor." rumbled Cy.

"What the frack is wrong with you all?" One demanded inctedulously, he turned to John, "They've all been corrupted!"

"Only by a sense of self determination." Sisko replied. "Perhaps they are tired of having your kind manipulate them, make decisions for them."

"We are one kind." Cavil shot back, "Machines, Cylons, except for those frauds." he jerked a thumb at Tigh. Tigh raised an eyebrow.

"I was a cylon before you were born." he replied. "You are more children of mine and the others than you are machine, though I am ashamed to admit it, because you have surely come from the worst parts of us, and if I need to spank you with the guns of a battlestar, so help me I'll do it!"

"You're a confused relic of a failed colony, that can't tell whether it's a man, or its a machine." One snapped, "I'm a machine damnit, a machine! I am better than this!"

"You're irrational." Sisko declared to One, he turned to Cavil, "and _you_, I dont think _you_ even knew what they were planning." He accused Cavil, "You defend their actions, even though you were appointed to speak for them and they went behind your back?"

"You see that's where you are mistaken." Cavil announced, "We knew we'd have no vote, no say, so what was the point in adopting a primitive hierarchy. We aren't playing at democracy, we're machines!" He growled, "We know our imperative, and it is-"

"War?" Cain interrupted. She had arrived with Admiral Adama. "Careful Cylon, you sound almost human."

"You threw your crew at us like cattle, just to slow us down." One told her, "I almost respect that, it was almost machine-like, cold, calculated." Cain glowered at him and Adama put out an arm to hold her back, "Except you didn't have enough of them, and they aren't coming back, not like us.'

"That remains to be seen." Adama growled. "We could put you in that transporter, see if you can resurrect from nothing."

"The federation does not condone capitol punnishment." Sisko warned.

"I'd be happy to do the honors." Odo said dryly, earning a look from Sisko.

"We could box his line." Tigh commented reluctantly "Seal them away."

"I'll have to assume you've never heard of Pandora." Odo replied caustically.

"As a matter of fact we have." Adama replied. "As I recall, the okly thing left in the box was hope, but making... whatever we started before all this happened, _work_ with this..." He gestured at the Ones "model of psycopaths .. is not gonna fly with the President."

"Or the Colonial Fleet." Cain added.

"Stand down, Commander." Adama warned her. Cain continued to bristle.

"Ah." John noted, looking at Cain amused "Have we been demoted?"

""She got more of her crew killed then we did." added Cavil.

"Helena Cain is a hero." Adama stated, iron in his voice. Sisko nodded to Cain.

"She took up arms to defend her ship, and her comrades." He stated, "She overcame insurmountable odds, and without her, we would have very few options left to us." He nodded approvingly to her, "And when her task was done she laid them down again, she surrendered herself back into custody."

"In the end, she acted with honor." Worf intoned.

"Indeed." Agreed Cy, earning an almost exhasparated look fron Cain.

"It's a fracking ruse." Cavil and John started laughing as One exploded with incredulity. "She broke out of jail, organized the worst defensive action in the history of ever, and she only succeeded because the idiot who let us on board got his head stuck in a door! What is wrong with you people, she's crazier than we are!"

"She'll turn on you the second she has a chance." chortled John, "And good riddance, I say. Go on, box us, the silence would be a relief from this madhouse."

"You'll have to box the fives, too." Cavil pointed out, "Some of them were in on it."

"Some of the twos, as well." One said.

"We'll handle them." Six spoke up at last, "The twos were misinformed and the fives are just idiots, we have a lot of changes to make in our society, but the first thing to go has to be you, one way, or another."

"You don't have a concensus." One shot at her, "You'll never get one, either, that's really why we are here, isn't it, you know we have allies, even among the eights and the sixes."

"We have a representative majority." Six answered, "and the others will be arriving shortly." The others turned to her, as she spoke at last. "The ones are consumed by the bitterness of the past. While most of us can see plainly the cycle we are trapped in, they wade comfortably down the same old ground. Man versus machine, machine versus man. Slavery death, freedom, death, slavery."

"We want something more." The eight pitched, "We want peace."

"Peace is the silence of your enemies." One told her. "Victory brings peace."

"Silence is not peace, silence is lonelieness and empty. Fulfilment, is the harmony of many voices." Said Waverider. "Cooporation with friends brings peace."

"And with that fulfillment, comes true freedom, true peace." Rumbled Cy, stepping towards the Ones. "Admiral Adama, we do not wish to abandon our brothers and sisters," Cain started at thar last, "no matter how misguided, but we are mindful of the future. Weare mindful of the legacy we begin here, so as a gesture of good faith, we offer these to you.."

"Now wait just a minute-" started John, the Centurion loomed over him and he faltered.

"You will be silent." Cy commanded, it turned to Adama "Admiral, we will abide by your command."

Adama blinked.

"'By your command' " he said thoughtfully, "That was the mantra of servitude that started the first Cylon uprising. The men and women of this fleet serve willingly. They took an oath of service to one another and to the colonial fleet, and every officer who gives an order is responsible as much to, as for, those serving under their command." He looked at Cain. "Commander, your crew paid for these prisoners with their lives, their legacy is in your hands, how do you wish to proceed." She sighed.

"Put these things in the brig, under restraint." Cain ordered, gesturing to the Ones, "We don't want any accidents while we decide what to do with you."

Adama turned to Saul, "We need to clear this deck and let our people get back to work. Most of our pilots were ordered to land on the _Pegasus_ to reinforce her crew."

"Makes sense, they were already in the air and _Pegasus_ flight pods are in better shape then ours at the moment." Tigh replied

"Kara's coming in with Lee." Adama said glancing at Sisko, as the Marines left, accompanied by Odo, Worf and the Centurion, "I want to keep that payload close at hand."

"Agreed." Sisko replied. He looked at Cain. "Who is in command of the _Pegasus_?"

"Major Shaw and Lieutenant Hoshi." Adama replied, "We're short on senior officers at the moment. Commander Garner is on his way over for reassignment," His dissatisfaction with the man was evident in Adama's voice. "Commander Cain will command the _Hercules_ while we pull _Pegasus_ off the line for repair, her munitions are being transferred to some of the other ships we salvaged"

"You're okay with that?" Sisko asked Cain.

"No. The _Pegasus_ is a good ship and she deserves better." She growled, "But I lost control, bit of myself and my ship, and I'm paying for it."

"For what its worth," Tigh said gruffly, "Armageddon is as likely a time as any to forget yourself, but it's more important than ever to crawl back from it. Take it from me, I've seen it twice."

"-and you're a Cylon." Said Cain eyeing him, "From Earth."

"That I am." Tigh said unapologetically, "And I also swore an oath, and served in this fleet for over forty years." Cain considered that.

"And you know for certain, that you can uphold your oath?" She asked, "No hidden programming, no secret commands? Can you serve the fleet even if it means killing your... children?"

"This is no time for second guessing, no time for fear." Saul told her drawing himself up. "I am what I am, and the work ahead may not be pretty, but I'm a soldier, I'm Saul Tigh, and I have oath to fulfill."

"The Commander still has a lot to catch up on." Adama said.

"Including who all the cylons are, and what the nonhumans are capable of, Admiral, I'd like that information immediately." Cain stated gathering herself.

"Well we are about to meet the rest of the Cylons," Adama informed her, "The hybrid and the Raiders won't be able to attend in person, with the museum heavily damaged so we'll convene in the war room and they can monitor by remote, you'll meet the remained face to face."

"That's as good a place as any to get started." Sisko observed. He might have been right, up until Helena rounded the corner, and came face to face with a Three. She saw the eyes first, then the nose as recognition and shock took hold.

"Oh my Gods, Lucy!"

. *. *.

"Kara, what is it, snap out of it!" Lee shook her. Kara blinked. She looked at him uncomprehendingly. "It's time to land, the deck is clear."

She looked around the Raptor cockpit and gathered herself.

'Lee, something's wrong." She told him, "something isn't right about all this."

"Nothing's right about this, Kara, a week ago this ship was a museum and my dad was off to retirement." Lee gestured at the _Galactica_, "Now the colonies are gone and aliens are real."

"That's exactly what I mean!" Kara told him, "The sacred scrolls never mentioned aliens, they never mentioned cylons on Earth. This is not the will of the Gods." Lee looked at her strangely.

"If the God's wanted the colonies deatroyed, why create them, why all of this?" Kara gestured around them. "This isn't right Lee, it can't be." She touched the Raptor down with one hand as shw waved, Lee didn't know whether to be impressed or worried as she continued. "The Sacred Scrolls don't mention aliens Lee, but it does mention demons."

"You... you think Sisko and his crew are demons?" Lee was confused, "Kara they saved us, they stopped the Cylons, they've worked non-stop..."

"The Cylons could only kill us, Lee, but now Sisko is trying to make peace with them."

"And look how that is going " Lee shot back sarcastically.

"Why did the _Defiant_ let the _Pegasus_ fire?" Starbuck demanded, "Cain tried the same thing, why didnt the Defiant catch it with their magical sensors? The Cylons nuked them during the attack and they came through without a scratch but now suddenly they are blown out of the sky?" The raptor descended on the elevator and Starbuck's voice rose. "It doesn't make any Gods Damned sense Lee, unless we are Gods' damned. They didn't save us so the fracking toasters could enslave us. We start negotiating and then suddenly our advantage is gone. We negotiate some more and now those frackers are on our ship, they've BEEN here the whole time, a Gods damned Cylon had me in hack during the Cylon attack, that's the only reason I'm still here."

Lee had no idea what to say. As they lowered to the deck he saw the Raiders in the distance next to a hybrid who turned in her tank, amid all of the hustle and bustle to lock eyes with him through the cockpit.

"They the deceivers Lee, we can't trust them, they look like us, and they have a plan."

. *. *.

"Well this was a bad plan." Tigh commented. Adama shot him an exhasparated look as Cain struggled with Sisko and Kira for her gun.

"You wear her fracking face you monster? You wear her fracking face?" Shrieked Cain. "Let go of me you freaks!"

"Oh for the love of-" Kira decked Commander Cain, her eyes rolled back. "Julian is never going to forgive me if she has another concussion."

"I'm sure she's fine major." Sisko said as he lowered her to the ground. He looked up at the Three, "What was she talking about?"

"Her sister." The Three said straightening, "We were modeled after her."

There was dead silence.

"You mean to tell me, you are copies of real people?" Sisko said incredulously, he looked at Tigh, who nodded.

"The original genetic donors were captured during the war." He acknowledged. "But they were returned to the colonies after, we made sure of it."

"Really." Kira demanded, "You just let them go?"

"They had no idea what we'd done." Saul admitted, "They knew they'd been abducted, they figured they'd been released with the armistice. Some of them were just kids, Lucy, Trish, Gracie..."

"So we've been circulating pictures of these people to the whole fleet warning everyone they are cylons." Kira snapped, "That's just fracking great." She caught herself. Sisko raised an eyebrow and Saul smirked.

"It's catchy isn't it." He said dryly

"Is her sister still alive?" Sisko demanded. Saul shrugged helplessly.

"Don't know. When we returned to the colonies we accompanied some, but Ellen and I were with Trish and Mathew, all our memories were wiped at the time. Lucy and Callum were with Galen and Tory. I think they went to Gemanon."

"Well we need answers and fast." Sisko told him, "I think this poor woman has been through enough, don't you?"

"_Sagan_ to Sisko." Lieutenant Neeley's voice sounded, "Secure communication requested." Sisko looked to Adama, Adama beckoned him over to corner workstation and Sisko tapped his badge.

"Sisko here, go ahead Lieutenant." He replied. The would adjust the volume appropriate to his hearing.

"Sir, we have restored long range communication, and the _Chafee_ recieved a message from the _Defiant_. She located a stable wormhole with a terminus much closer to the twelve colonies, her ETA is now just under four hours at maximum warp."

"Excellent news."

"Sir, they were aware of out present circumstances." Neeley said, "According to the message, the wormhole is artifical, and it may be occupied." Sisko digested that.

"With beings who experience non linear space time." Sisko replied, "I believe I understand. Was there anything else in the message."

"Yes sir." Neeley replied, "They advised that Admiral Adama specifically meet Kara Thrace on the flight deck of the _Galactica_ immediately for medical evaluation, by nurse Bandee or Doctor Bashir. Message states she is a danger to self and others."

"Understood. keep me apprised of any new developements Lieutenant." Sisko ordered, moving to Adama. "Admiral, we have another problem."

. *. *.

"Kara, I hear you." Lee told her. "Something doesnt add up here, but we need to know more."

"What more do we need to know?" She asked, "We're here Lee, the Cylons, the aliens, they're all here too, we are sitting in a plane full of their own weapons." Shw turned to Lee, "This is a sign?"

"Well what do you plan to do, blow up the peace talks?" He broke off "Kara, that's insane, we'd be killed too!"

"This isn't about us, Lee, this is about the future of humanity!" She shouted, "This is a _test_, this our legacy to show the Gods we are worthy of _survival!"_

Lee took in her expression, and her hand on the flight stick and weighed his options. Her intense expression was illuminated by her helmet light.

"But, _why_? Why do we have to prove _anything_!" He began, glancing at the flight stick. Her eyes followed his and suddenly her sidearm was in her other hand. "Kara!"

"Don't make me do it Lee." She told him, "Don't let my second to last act be to shoot you." She flipped a toggle to arm torpedoes.

"I can't make you do anything Kara, I never could." Lee said sadly, "But I don't understand I can't believe that the Gods who created ua, lived with us on Kobol, sacraficed themselves to save the twelve colonies, made me, made you, _why_ would they want _any_ of us to die to prove ourselves worthy. What about- what about _justice_?"

"I had a vision Lee." Kara told him, "I don't understand all of it, but the aliens, they aren't what they say they are, they aren't real! They're copies, like the cylons."

"They seem _pretty_ fracking real Kara." Lee argued, he tried to keep his voice calm. "Look, you fire those things in here, you will destroy the flight pod, maybe even Galactica, is that what you want? Flattop? Callie?, you might not even kill the Cylons, they could just resurrect." Kara's resolve wavered, Lee spotted something out of the corner of his eye. "Are you going to shoot my father, Kara?"

Kara looked. standing on the deck before the raptor was Admiral Adama. Quickly Lee grabbed her gun with one hand, toggled the arming switch back to disarm, and then, with all of his might, headbutted Kara.

Both still wearing helmets.

"Gods Fracking dammnit Apollo!!" Starbuck shouted, her helmet skewed sideways, as he tore the gun from grasp, "What kind of fresh laid moron are you?"

'I couldn't let you do it." He told her as the hatch opened and marines rushed in to seize her. "And I didn't want you to shoot me either." Marines were unclipping her restraints and one of them removed her helmet with a hiss.

"The fracking safety was still on my sidearm, if you'd bother to look." She grumbled as they pulled her away, "You're such a fracking tool."

. *. *.

**Captain's log**: **it has been ten days since the fall of the twelve colonies, and our arrival.**

**The _Defiant_ has returned early, via a newly discovered wormhole, and has brought with it, a collective sigh of relief from both the surviving Colonials, and the Cylons.**

**Following the attempt by rogue elements among the Cylons, to disrupt the fragile ceasefire, and rhe loss of a significant number of the crew of the _Pegasus_, as well as an incident aboard the _Galactica_, both fleets have withdrawn for the time being.**

**The Cylons have invited the _Defiant_ to bring an entourage to a colony of their own, in just a few days, to reopen a dialogue and in the meantime, the colonies continue their relief efforts.**

**The Shuttlecraft _Sagan_ was heavily damaged, but Chief O'Brien believes she may be salvageable, with some supplies Admiral Adama is only too happy to provide. I have recalled both it, and the _Chaffee_, and I have recovered the torpedoes we left with the Colonials.**

**We have continued to support relief efforts, but are focusing on environmental recovery efforts, but I believe it is clear that the people here are simply not ready for much of our technology. Doctor Bashir is conducting medical evaluations of Lieutenant Thrace Doctor Baltar, and President Roslin, who has herself, disclosed some medical concerns.**

**For the moment, we must regroup. The crew of the _ Defiant _has worked tirelessly, in the best tradition of Starfleet, to save lives, to explore our new surroundings to establish a peace between the people we found here. It seems for every question we answer, a dozen more must be asked. Every revelation, uncovers more secrets, every ally we make brings the risk of a betrayal, and every calm, seems followed by a storm.**

**We have not yet, found a way to return to our home universe, and if we do, there is still every possibility that will we may find ourselves marooned on that planet where this all began. I know many of the crew share these concerns, they wonder when and if they will ever see their own families again.**

**I cannot help but wonder if we are trapped in a cycle of our own, whether I will ever see Jake, or Cassidy, or Bajor, ever again.**


	12. Epiphanies

"Chief, you're supposed to be taking the morning off." Sisko commented as O'Brien stepped onto the bridge, he sat at the helm, instead of the captain's chair, maintaining a solo watch. "Something wrong with the accomodations on C_loud 9_?"

"No sir, it's nice enough, the bio done is an amazing piece of engineering really, Keiko would have loved what they did with the artifical lighting, the trees..." O'Brien said, he hesitated, then said, "I just... I can't relax sir, not when all I can think about is getting home."

"You miss your family." Sisko said, "I feel the same." He sighed and gestured for O'Brien to take his seat at jis station. "Nearly every member of the crew feels the same, even Dr. Bashir, though he is at least mote concerned about all the people still suffering in the colonies."

O'Brien turned to look at him as Sisko turned back to the helm. "But that's absurd, he's saved hundreds of lives already, we set up the whole recovery effort-"

"He knows there are orphans suffering." Sisko replied, "Elderly civillians still trapped in the rubble of cities that haven't been cleared, crews still stranded in space, waiting for rescue. The Colonial fleet continues to launch rescue operations accross the twelve colonies, but they are far from out of the woods. It will take them decades to recover from this."

"Assuming the Cylons give them the chance." O'Brien said.

"I think they will." Sisko replied, "The Cylons have some rebuilding to do of their own, and I think its prudent that the two give each other space to do so."

"Who's to say they won't just go at it again in twenty years." O'Brien grumbled.

"Well the thirteenth colony managed to keep them in check once, and the colonials have a larger galaxy to explore now. We've shown them Kobol and some forgotten chapters of their history."

"But what about our little friends, those Messengers?" O'Brien asked, "They seemed pretty interested in you."

"Eve dissappeared when you went through the wormhole. Sisko replied, "Presumably she returned to her kind. Tomorrow I'll take a shuttle to meet them, and we'll see if they are willing and able to help us, if not..."

"Dax and I will have to reproduce the event that brought us here and take our chances." O'Brien finished. "Thats what I figured, and I have some ideas."

"Well get to it Chief." Sisko told him. O'Brien hesitated.

"But sir," He asked, "How is this any different then the colony we created in the past? Now its twelve colonies instead of one, depending on us."

"That colony was a time loop we could only escape by consigning every man woman and child to oblivion." Sisko replied. "Here they have a choice, and I believe they will choose survival."

"And if replicating the conditions that brought us here, sends us right back to where we started?" O'Brien asked, "We may not have a choice sir, we don't understand all the variables here."

"Then we'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it Chief." Sisko said rising, he put a hand on O'Brien's shoulder, "You know one of the exhasparating things about the Bajoran Prophets is that they don't grasp linear time. The best way I could describe our lives to them, is that we are explorers, and we discover our future, as it unfolds."

"Keiko and I chose to build a family in space." O'Brien replied, "I made a promise to her that we would discover our lives, together." Sisko nodded gravely.

"I understand, believe me I do " He replied, "I made the same promise to Jake, and to Jennifer." He sighed, "And as Captain I have a responsibility to the men and women on this ship, to see them home, but we all swore an oath to Starfleet, and it may sometimes seem like there is just no way to win."

"The Kobiyashi Maru." O'Brien said. Sisko nodded, "Never took it myself sir, but I've heard about it." He looked at Sisko curiously, " If you don't mind me asking, what did you do?"

"Well in the academy test, I went down fighting." Sisko replied, and O'Brien chuckled, but then Sisko's face was grave, "In real life, I lost my wife, and my ship, but I saved my son. I wish I could say I knew all the answers Chief, but you know what Admiral Adama always says?"

"What sir." O'Brien said.

"Sometimes you have to roll the hard six." Sisko told him. O'Brien nodded thoughtfully. Sisko moved to the turbo lift.

"Uh Captain? What does that even mean?"

"I have no idea." Sisko said, "but think about it, while I join the crew. Commander Worf will relieve you in two hours."

. *. *.

"I will destroy you." Worf stated.

"So does that mean you fold?" Starbuck asked smirking. The Klingon growled and tossed his cards down.

"The game cheats." He growled.

"Don't feel bad, big guy, she's just that good." said Lee

"Lieutenant Dax will defeat her." The Klingon stated matter of factly.

"How about it old man, raise or call?" Starbuck said looking at Dax.

Dax pushed some chips forward, "I'll call." Starbuck dropped her cards down.

"Read it and weep, slug!" She crowed, Dax sighed as she tossed her cards down, but Bashir cleared his throat,

"Um, as a matter of fact..." he said laying his cards down, "I believe I am the winner."

"What the frack?" Starbuck exclaimed, "How?"

"He came at you sideways Kara, you were too focused on the rest of us " Lee chuckled as the Doctor pulled in his winnings. They were seated in a lounge kn Cloud 9, several other starfleet personell were inside, a half dozen more were outside throwing a frisbee.

"He's gotta be a card counter, I want a rematch." Kara stated.

"Well unfortunately it's back to work for us. We're back on search and rescue duty tonight." Lee reminded her. the mood immediately soured.

"We should be out there." Bashir said quietly.

"Doc, you've saved more lives than any five of us." Kara told him, "If you hadn't told me you were just a regular guy I'd think you were some kind of super man."

"As a physician, I'm trained to work long hours during an emergency." Bashir replied.

"Well what does your medical training tell you about the Captain's orders." Dax asked him. Bashir sighed.

"It's more... recovery than searching, at this point." Lee said, "We can handle that, Doctor. Honestly, we can't thank you all enough." He waited for a beat, "Especially for fixing Kara." Starbuck punched him in the arm.

"I'm, actually not certain I have." Bashir said somberly. Lee's smile faltered as Bashir looked up at them with concern, "I mean frankly, her poor liver was saturated with toxins..." Dax and Lee started laughing while Kara sputtered indignantly "...and her lungs... just how many of those have you smoked?" he waved his hands at the smoke coming from her fumerello. "The sheer volume of carcinogenic material I removed."

"Hey its an easy way to lose five pounds " She gloated, "Now there's roon for more, thanks Doc!"

"Well in all seriousness, you had many of the same indicators of contact with the Messengers as Baltar, in addition to the trauma and sleep deprivation of many others in the fleet." Bashir said, "I was able to heal you physically, but it is important to care for your mental health as well."

"Something we should all keep in mind." Dax prompted him. He sighed and nodded. "Thats why the klingons sing while they fight."

"Really?" Bashir was surprised, Worf nodded.

"I once chastized my brother for drinking with the enemy." He said, "But Klingons understand battle. It is not about killing, it is about living. We must remember to live, when surrounded by death." He took a sip of his drink, "It is the only victory one can truly achieve."

"Well then I suppose none of you would begrudge me MY little victory." Bashir remarked.

. *. *.

Kira found Odo peering closely at a centipede crawling along a plant limb.

"Constable." She said, he held up a hand as he watched the creature move. After a moment he turned around.

"I don't understand how it can move so many legs." He commented. Kira was not amused.

"You've been avoiding me for days." she said flatly, "Don't think I hadn't noticed."

"I've been consumed with the evacuation, with setring up rescue operations, screening for cylons, and then the summit." He said stiffly.

"I could have died Odo." She snapped, "Is that what you would have told yourself if I had?" He looked down. "I met your counterpart, I know what I meant to him, he showed me my grave."

Odo looked up.

"Nerys, I... I know what he meant to you, I just don't know... what that means to me." Kira just seemed to get angrier.

"What is THAT supposed to mean? I thought we were friends!"

"We are!" Odo answered hurredly, "and to him, you were more, much more, I think I might.. feel the same way, but I don't know what that means!"

"Well itcertainly doesn't mean you should push me away!" Kira told him crossing her arms.

"Well maybe it does." Odo said not meeting her eye, "I'm not sure what I will become."

Kira blew out a breath and moved closer to Odo, catching his chin with her hand and turning his face to her.

"Talk to me Odo, whats this all about." She demanded.

Odo reached up for her too, and spoke slowly.

"I am a Founder." He said quietly. "The ruthlessness we see in the Doninion, I carry that within me too."

"But you're nothing like the Dominion." Kira told him, "you're kind, you're warm, curious..."

"My counter part sent us here." Odo told her. He pulled away, "I think it was an accident, but, he altered our flight path so we wouldn't return to the colony, so we wouldn't go back in time."

"My god, all those people..." Kira breathed, Odo nodded.

"He loved you, and to save you, he may have consigned thousands of people to oblivion." Odo replied, "These Cylons... some of them are ruthless, and it made me realize, I can be just as ruthless..." Here he hesitantly met Kira's eyes, "Given the right cause."

"Don't you think you're getting a little ahead of yourself?" Kira asked, "I came here because I thought you were so bothered by the thought that I was going to die, you'd have let me. Instead you're so arrogant, that you assume not only that we'd have some kind of future, but that if we do, you'd turn into a monster, and that I would just LET you?" She threw up her hands, "I grew up fighting monsters Odo, I still fight them today, just get over yourself." She stormed off.

Odo turned back to the centipede.

"And I thought YOU were complicated." He grumbled.

. *. *.

"You sure you're up for this old man?" Sisko asked, he greeted Dax in the Defiant's diminutive shuttle bay just outside the Chaffee, "It's not the brightest idea for you to come along. If something goes wrong, you're the best chance to get the crew home."

"You'll need me if anything goes wrong with the FTL system."

Dax ducked into the shuttle. "Miles can handle that, with Julian's help, but it will only get them back into the same dilemma. At least this way there won't be a Me to explain what happened the next time we come along, that could make a difference."

"That's some dark logic." Sisko said joining her. "Sisko to Worf, are we clear?"

"Yes sir. Chief O'Brien has transported to the Galactica for a tour of their engineering facilities. I am securing the shuttle bay now."

"Thank you Mr. Worf, this shouldn't take long." Sisko replied. He turned to Dax.

"It's not so different from the old tranawarp drive experiments in the late 23rd century." Dax explained, "Except now we have a workong model. The colonials and the cylon use rotating magnetic fields that channel exotic particals from their tylium drives. Injecting Tylium into our warp plasma coils should accomplish an identical effect."

"An embarassing breakdown in obit?" Sisko asked with a grin.

"Well we don't have the great Montgomery Scott to sabotage our computer." Dax answered returning the grin, "and more importantly, the Gaius and Tyrol helped us complete the procedure while we were on our way back from Kobol. This will work."

"Alright." Sisko said, "Then we jump to the wormhole and have a conversation with these so called "Lords of Kobol."

. *. *.

" Something the matter, Major?" Bashir asked sliding up beside her at the bar, as Kira downed a glass of ambrosia.

"Everything's fine." she gritted, "I just had no idea how thick headed a changeling could be."

"Technically their head is a semi dense gelatin." Bashir pointed out. Kira snorted. "Is something going on between you and the Consta ble?"

"The Odo from the other timeline altered our flight plan." Kira told Bashir, "He did it to save me."

"I see." said Bashir. The bar tender came by with shots and Julian nodded, "Yes please." He said, gulping one down. Kira snagged one too.

"Eight thousand people." Kira hissed, "all because of me, and I would have gladly taken my chances, in exchange for their lives, but he took that choice away."

"His alternate." Bashir pointed out, "Who's to say what all that time on the settlement did to him, to say nothing of the radiogenic field around the planet, the Odo we met from the past east quite different from the one know today."

"Well now this one is avoiding me, because he's afraid he'll turn into the Dominion over me, someday." Kira took her shot. Bashir turned and looked at her.

"You and the Constable have always been close." He said neutrally.

"Julian..." Kira warned.

"I'm just saying," He hedged, trying to ascertain exactly what it was he WAS saying, "He must care for you deeply, if someday, he would be capable of doing what he did, he sacraficed himself too, after all. That doesn't sound like the founders, does it?" Kira looked at him, some hope in her eyes. "Well except the one posing as _me_, that blew himself up to accomplish his mission..." Kira smacked his arm and he chuckled, but a little more gently he finished, "But maybe, knowing that there may be a future for the two of you, it doesn't seem right that he would make the choice to end it, before it began?"

Kira said nothing, she just signalled for another drink.

. *. *.

With a flash, the Chaffee appeared in normal space. Kobol spun quietly beneath her.

"Confirming coordinates-" Dax reported working her console, "coordinates confirmed, we travelled 15 light years in less than a second, at only 18 percent of our total output." She looked up at Sisko, "Welcome to Kobol."

"In a shuttle craft, no less. Sisko grinned, he extended a hand, "congratulations old man, you just revolutionized space travel."

"The Chief will never forgive me for doing it without him." Dax said, "Then again, he's already been to the end of the universe."

"We had to keep this quiet." Sisko replied, "Moral is stretched thing Dax, the crew has worked hard, and until we have a sure way home, we can't tip our hand to the Cylons or the Colonials, I don't know if we can get through another confrontation."

"A pity they are so busy trying to kill eachother they can't appreciate how much they could help each other, how much they could learn." Dax observed, "I got the impression from Eve that humanity has quite a story in this universe, the most recent chapter started here."

"So this is the birth place of the twelve colonies." Sisko commented. "You know spatially, we aren't too far from Bajor, I don't think..."

"It's in a slightly different position, but so close astronomically speaking, it's a match." Dax confirmed "The 12 colonies are in approximately the same system as Capella back home."

"Let's hope they dont have Klingons here." Sisko commented.

"Benjamin!" Dax scolded.

"I just meant that Colonials might not be quite ready for the Klingon Empire." Sisko amended hastily, "So where is this wormhole?"

"I was waiting to see if you would sense it mystically." Dax snarked. "Setting course for the wormhole."

"I'll send a confirmation of our arrival to your favorite Klingon." Sisko replied.

. *. *.

"I'd certainly love to get my hands on some schematics." Baltar commented. He stood with Tyrol and O'Brien on a gangway overlooking the nascent FTL engines, spinning slowly below them. "You say this effect can be duplicated within one of your warp nacelles?"

"Well we use a matter/antimatter reactor, which generates considerably more power." O'Brien explained, "And we can force plasma through our warp coils at a much greater density and velocity than this."

"The material strength of those components would have to be much greater than anything we have in the colonies." Tyrol said ruefully, "We'd need a lot more than schematics doc."

"We need someone to teach us." Baltar agreed.

"Oh I dunno." O'Brien replied, "Zephram Cochran built the first warp ship out of a recycled atomic missile, it's got no where near the performance of a modern warp engine, but it would be a starting point." he turned to Baltar, "but the thing uout really want to do is start exploring for yourselves. When we met the vulcans, they offered to teach us, and we spent the next fifty years going nowhere. When Starfleet finally got out and atarted exploring, our technology grew by leaps and bounds, we met all kinds of new races with new ideas."

Baltar grimaced.

"The first alien I met decided to make herself at home in my wet ware." He said savagely, "She was likely manipulating me right up to the Cylon attack."

"Sure Doc. We'll stick to that story." Tyrol said dryly. Baltar shot him a look. "Even if we can't use your tech chief, your people interceded in a holocaust, you gave us a second chance. I think we are all very grateful."

"Yes, yes of course." Baltar said, "And now that I'm in my.. right mind... as the President's chief scientific advisor I will make every effort to ensure that science and exploration take a pre-eminent role-"

"Once we are done picking up the pieces." Tyrol said, "I hate to say it but the Cylons are gonna have a heck of a head start on all that, exploration included. Now that they know the universe is bigger than they thought, they'll be making exploration a higher priority. Advances in technology too, and I think they were already ahead of the colonies there." He turned to go and O'Brien and Baltar followed him.

"Their computer technology, certainly, but I think Lieutenant Dax has shown that with advances in computers, we can beat the cylons at their own game. Mr. Gaeta has already made some very interesting proposals in that regard." Baltar answered.

"But you have to admit, a battle star is a much more advanced piece of engineering." O'Brien answered, "Material science and design, logistics, procedures, just maintaining life support for 2000 people os no joke, with this equipment."

"Tell me about it." Tyroll commented, they made their way out of engineering and down a main corrider, "But even this old girl's still got some legs. The others we salvaged from her class were decommissioned more because of cost then anything else. Smaller, more automated designs like the Valkyrie replaced them, but their overall reliability isn't that much better, and it'll ve a while before we have a shipyards operational again."

"It would be pragmatic to use one as a base of operations, and focus on smaller mid range designs for exploration." Baltar commented, "Even some pointers on how to miniturize technology would help in that regard "

"Believe me, the smaller it is, the harder to fix." O'Brien told him as they approached the landing deck, "but I'll speak with the captain and see what he says. I know Julian wants to pass on some of our medical technology."

"Particularly your neuro scanner technology." Baltar commented, "It would be nice to be able to tell who is human- no offense-" He turned to Tyrol, "Not to mention checking for parasites."

"Yeah, I can see how that would be a big deal for you." Said Tyrol dryly. "Hey look, our search and rescue teams are returning, I've got work to do, anything else you want to see Miles?"

"As a matter fact, I have some time, could you use a hand?" O'Brien asked, Tyrol clapped him on the shoulder, "Let me find you some coveralls." He turned to Baltar, "How bout it Doc, you interested in helping out the knuckledraggers?"

"Well of course I..." Baltar began to make an excuse and then he saw Tyrol's lips quiver in a smirk. " Oh hah hah Chief, you know what yes, I think I WILL join you, I'm no stranger to hard work you know." He shouldered past the two Chiefs and plucked at Callie's sleeve, "Excuse me, do you know where I may find a clean pair of... coveralls?"

"Well I'll be damned." Tyrol raised his eyebrows at O'Brien. O'Brien shrugged.

"Careful Chief, you'll end up playing darts with him every night, they sneak up on you." O'Brien warned.

. *. *.

A familiar looling sight blossomed out the viewport.

"And there it is." Dax said, "Not so different from ours, is it Benjamin."

"Oh I don't know..." Benjamin scrutinized it, "I think ours is a little more... purple..." He smiled to himself.

"Your first stable wormhole is always special." Dax told him, "Proceeding at impuls-"

Suddenly Sisko was somewhere else, he saw the beach around him, but before him, was his own face, beside the imposter was another Dax. Suddenly there was an arm on his shoulder, and he turned to find a Six stating right into his eyes, with her head cocked slightly. She was asking him a question.

"Are you alive?"


	13. The Passage

"I think, therefore I am." Sisko replied to the woman. She stepped back, and Dax spoke.

"Unverifiable." She said, Sisko took note that she was not the Dax he knew.

"The Lords of Kobol, I presume." He stated, "I am Benjamin Sisko, Emissary, to the prophets of Bajor, Captain, in the United Federation of Planets." He paused, "I hear you've been looking for me."

"Your people imprisoned our messenger." Gaius Baltar had appeared, "That was presumptuous."

"You disrupted the plan." Dax accused. "You don't understand what you have done."

"Your messengers spoke of this plan." Sisko replied, "She said you were guiding humanity away from its destruction, yet time and time again, under your guidance, the same cycle of destruction has played out. What kind of plan is that?"

The Sharon held up a silver 8. "You know this?" She asked.

"It looks like a number 8?" Sisko said confused.

"She was the mother," The Sharon said, and she turned the 8 sideways, "Of infinity."

"I don't understand." Sisko admitted.

"The link between past and future, the renewal of the beginning, from the end." Dax interjected, "She was to carry the seed back to the beginning, after the end. Now there is no union, there can be no seed."

Sisko blew out a sigh, "Anothet time loop." He growled.

"One that would have made the tale of humanity eternal." The Six told him "Uroborous shall go hungry and fade away."

"Your plan was to preserve humanity by forcing some situation where they travelled back to the past?" Sisko demanded, "but why? Why not instead, guide humanity to move forward, to advance beyond its capacity for violence?"

"Because we are Uroborous." Replied the 8.

"You need to preserve a circular timeline, because you are the product of it." Sisko replied. "And we disrupted that." The creatures nodded. "What must we do?"

Suddenly Dax was beside him, the real Dax.

"Benjamin-" She said.

"Heads up old Man, I think we are about to get a lesson in temporal mechanics." Sisko replied.

. *. *.

"So somehow the fall of the twelve colonies was to result in a co-mingling of Cylon and Human DNA." Dax finished, "A large enough population of survivors travels back in time to introduce a common mitochondrial ancestor on ancient Earth, which corrected the flaw sequences left by the progenitors. At the same time, some of the cylon survivors somehow managed to evolve over that time into beings that exist beyond space time. The wornhole is some kind of interimensional resonance chamber, housing extra dimensional life forms."

"If we disrupted this cycle, then how can they still exist?" Worf demanded.

"They exist outside of space time, despite being a product of it." Dax replied, "The temporal point of departure hasn't been reached, it's a little over two years in the future, but once it passes, there's no going back, a new timeline will assert itself, likely resulting in the premature extinction of humanity, and the messengers, the colonies, all of this will cease to be."

"So what do they want us to do?"

Kira asked.

"Well now that depends." Sisko asked, "Do you know how we can relocate 8,000 people across half the galaxy, several million years and into another universe?"

"The colony?" Kira demanded, "didn't it vanish because we didn't go back in time?"

"If we return to the same point we left, but before we avoid the anomaly, then the colony would still exist." Sisko stated.

"But we would only have moments." O,'Brien sputtered, "You'd need a couple of galaxy class starships to transport that many people."

"And you would need to remove them from the spacetime continuum before they dissappeared." Dax added.

"A jump drive." O'Brien said, "We'd need a ship with enough mass transporter capability to evacuate 8,000 people, and then jump back into the wormhole, all in a matter of minutes. It can't be done sir."

"It could if they had a jump drive." Sisko pointed out. "The Lords of Kobol will allow us passage back to our universe, and in return, I have agreed that Starfleet will render assistance."

"You're sure Starfleet will take that kind of a risk with, however many starships this would take?" Odo asked.

"What about the colonists, shouldn't they have a say in all this?" Bashir asked, "Dax, at least is a federation citizen."

"How is replacing 40,000 colonists from the twelve colonies, with 8,000 from our universe supposed to reset their timeline anyway?" O'Brien asked, "Wouldn't it result in an entirely different timeline?"

"They will guide it." Sisko answered, "They can see beyond linear time, but they need the genetic material of the progenitors to be complete, in order to interact with the humans of Earth, in our timeline, the progenitors successfully seeded Earth, and so our descendants can continue the cycle." He turned to Bashir, "And they are our descendants, Doctor, this is the only way to save them before our own timeline corrects itself."

"But if we don't go back in time, how do they exist at all?" Bashir was struggling with it."

"What about the klingons?" Worf asked, "Surely they would affect the timeline as well."

"Not necessarily." Dax said, "There arent that many od them, over a hundred thousand years the impact wouldn't be significant."

"Bottom line everyone, this is our way home." Sisko stated with finality, "And the door won't stay open forever."

"What about the Cylons and the Colonies?" Bashir asked, "If we leave, they could start fighting again."

"We made some agreements that we will see through, but their fate is their own, as it has always been." Sisko stated. "Doctor, you may provide medical training manuals, and research materials from the Defiant's computers, Specifically in areas of radiation treatment, post traumatic stress, and a means of detecting cylons,"

he turned to Worf, "We will not give them any weapons or shields technology, however, you may provide the colonials with educational material on modern information security techniques." He turned to Dax and O'Brien. "Chief, those atmosphere scrubbers will need to be decommissioned and disposed of immediately, and Dax, you can leave your changes to the colonial navigation system in place and you give operations material to Admiral Adama."

"Major Kira, I want you to forward the Articles of Federation, the teachings of Surak, The collected works of Kai Opaka to the cylons. They have a lot of work to do within their society, lets give them a few things to reference."

She nodded. He looked around the room.

"Very well, everyone, this is it. It's been a long, hard mission, with unexpected turns, but by this time tomorrow, you will be going home. Let's get to work."

. *. *.

"I want to thank you for everything you've done." Adama said gravely. He walked beside Sisko, "You gave our people another chance."

"I'm sure you would have found a way on your own." Sisko told him, "but I hope we were able to save some lives." Adama nodded. "So it looks like the Galactica has a few more years in her yet." Adama nodded.

"We started the repairs to the flight pod and found some structural issues, but we've agreed to work with the cylons to make repairs, sort of a... good will gesture. She'll be the new armistice station, trading post, embassy..."

"Swords into plowshares." Sisko mused.

"A new mission." Adama agreed, "The toughest one of all, I think."

"This can't be easy for you." Sisko commented, Adama nodded, "My generation has been through this, we know fighting best." He said, "But if there is to be a future for our children.. "

"You've still got plenty of work to do, Admiral " Sisko reminded him. "Zarek making land grabs, elections next year, Kobol, Earth, you're people have a lot to digest."

"It won't be easy." Adama acknowledged, "We still have a lot of crews to recover, good men and women to lay to rest but I think... we'll get there." He sighed, "Maybe someday we'll be explorers again, like you." Sisko chuckled

"You night run into Cavil out there." he commented, Adama made a wry face.

"They're downloading his line into modified raiders." Adama mused "No weapons, solar sales, just probes sent into the galaxy sending back what they see."

"It's kind of what he wanted." Sisko said.

"It's more than he deserves." Adama grumbled. "But I suppose we all have to try to move on, and if the Cylons won't condone capitol punishment its better them having them lying around."

"Well I have a ship to see home." Sisko said. "Who knows admiral, maybe I will drop in, from time to time."

"I'd like that." Adama said.

. *. *.

In darkness of space, the wormhole blossomed.

"There she is." O'Brien announced.

"Deep Space Nine." Bashir finished, the station hung on the viewscreen.

"Home at last." Kira finished.

"Major!" Worf shouted alarm, "The Captain is gone!" everyone turned and indeed, the center seat was missing.

"I have a message to plsy from the Captain." Dax announced, "I was under orders not to say anything until we arrived."

"What?" O'Brien demanded, Bashir objected too, but Kira raised her hand.

"Quiet everybody, I had a feeling something like this would happen, play the message." She nodded to Dax. Dax turned and Sisko appeared on rhe viewscreen.

"Hello everyone." He stated, he was sitting in his commans chair on an empty bridge. "By now you know, I'm not coming back with you." He grinned, "There was a price to pay for our passage, but as your captain, I was glad to pay it."

He continued, "I agreed to stay behind, to act as a liason between the Prophets and the Lords, as they are something like distant cousins. The Lords needed an assurance that we would honor our side of the bargain because what they did for us was somewhat more involved then it first seemed. It seems we were simply echoes in their universe. Quantum duplicates discarded as a byproduct of the accident that brought us. As a child of the prophets, Major Kira had a unique connection that was severed by that event. The Lords restored her, as a demonstration, and then they restored you all."

He leaned back. "I will stay with them for a while, and when it is time, the prophets will call you. They have it all worked out with the Lords you see, they have a plan. "Take care of the station, take care of each other, and I will see you soon." The message winked out.

"I don't believe it." O'Brien was appalled, "We're just copies?"

"No, that was in their universe." Dax told him, "The Captain arranged a switch. Copies were sent back in time to found the colony, but we were given their memories.". Worf growled.

"Bashir." He snarled, "Am I kn the right universe?" Bashir had his tricorder out after a moment he nodded. "A relief." Worf rumbled.

"But what about the captain?" Bashir asked, he looked at Kira, "We can't just leave him there, what'll we tell Starfleet, what'll we tell Jake?"

"Sisko is with the prophets." Kira replied, "And when its time, he will return."


	14. Those Three Words

Those three words, everyone hates, that promise more. I had a great time writing this. It was a brain bug I fed to shake myself out of a writing slump. It opened up some new ideas, so I fleshed out an additional arc which I will begin in a few days.

First I'm going back to clean up typos, and then I will be continuing this in a sequel story, Time's Care Taker for which I have the first four chapters, and then a final piece, Time's Emissary. I'm not necessarily going to both in a row, because I still have work to do on my Worm/DBZ story, and several sequels to the Pandora's Curse storyline. DS9 is just a good place to visit to get my groove back, thanks for reading!

To Be Continued...


End file.
